The Definition of Insanity
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: Insanity: *in-sahn-i-tee* Performing the same act multiple times while expecting differing results. And Ichigo couldn't say he was all there to begin with. No pairings.
1. It BeginsAgain

Have had this written for a while. More or less a Groundhog-day kind of fic. Sticking Ichigo in a time loop just seemed like it would be highly entertaining. :D Please let me know what you think.

xXx - Chapter 1: It begins...again.

It hurt.

Bad.

_Very_ bad.

So bad, that it had started to not hurt.

Never a good sign.

How could things have possibly turned out like this? Hadn't he trained for this? He'd become so much stronger, and he hadn't been the only one. Everyone had worked so hard, and it had seemed to work out, before...

He didn't want to think of himself as another victim of Aizen's evil; Kurosaki Ichigo: The only one who could have stopped him. Yet here he was...with a sword stuck through his gut, and less riatsu than anyone still alive had any business having.

Even his hollow lay sprawled in a careless position on the side of a building, too exhausted to even bothering commenting on how, for once, his outer wounds had started to affect his inner world. The buildings shook, unstable and weak, threatening to crumble at the slightest move. Windows had begun to shatter and break, falling inward and leaving dark, gaping maws littering the sideways landscape.

Aizen, for his part, was saying something (gloating undoubtedly), but Ichigo couldn't seem to make out the words anymore and it all came across as a dull, distant blur of sound. Time had begun to slow down, and he felt like his brain had become molasses. Parts of his life began to drift before his eyes lethargically and he had a hard time concentrating on the scenes. Even then, though, several strong images lingered, mixing and blurring together to a point where he couldn't seem to differentiate one from the next.

Black began to swirl around the edges of his vision, and he knew that this time, no miracle would save him. Someone was screaming at him from behind. The voice sounded deep and in pain. He could hear despair too, from the other voices...or was it the same one? He couldn't quite tell. That's when he noticed the tugging. It felt almost like when Zangetsu kept trying to originally call out to Ichigo but he'd been unable to hear. After a moment, he brushed the thought to the side and somehow dragged his mind's thought-process back to his predicament.

No one would be able to salvage this situation. If only he'd been a little faster, or paused before entering the battlefield, or just trained harder...

_I wish I could go back_, the lethargic thought drifted across his mind. _Back, before everything happened...back when I first met her..._

Rukia's face from that first night came to mind, her eyes glaring up at him, so determined to save one simple human that she'd risk her own life to do so. That was the kind of person she was, after all.

His other friends began to appear in his mind as consciousness slipped from him. Chad...Ishida...Orihime...Tatsuki...Asano...Mizurio...Renji...his sisters...his father...his mother...

A small smile came to his lips at the memories. So this is what it felt like to die? It wasn't like he hadn't been this close before, but it had always been so fast then.

_I wish I could have kept going...until I...got it right._

And with that thought, Ichigo died.

Which is why when he suddenly shot up out of bed—in his own room, of all places—gasping for breath and clutching at his stomach in a vain attempt to cradle the wound that he _knew_ should be there but _wasn't_, he couldn't keep his jaw from dropping open. Waves of shock and confusion flooded through him. Why was he in his bedroom, in a house that, by all logic, shouldn't even exist anymore? He'd just _died_? Hadn't he? Quickly, he yanked up his shirt and jacket but no gaping holes met his scrutiny. Actually, his eyes widened when he realized that every single wound he'd ever received as a Shinigami had vanished without even a hint of scarring left behind.

He didn't know what to make of this development. Just as his experience in dying had occurred previously, this too happened before. Some vaguely rational part of his mind brought the thought to his attention in a vain attempt to calm him down. He remembered thinking that he'd died as black had practically swarmed over his vision (after all, a hole had been blown through his chest that time), and he'd woken up. However, that time he'd regained consciousness on the battlefield, not in his room dressed in his old school uniform.

_What the...?! _ The rest of his mind struggled to grasp at the straws that had been his dying consciousness not moments before. Had that all been a dream? No, he still felt the lingering echoes of pain emanating from practically his entire body. It had hurt far too much to be a dream. He rubbed his chest where Aizen's sword had skewered him and looked down again, as if to confirm his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, but he still couldn't see anything. Not even the scars where Byakuya had severed his chain deep and soul sleep or where Renji and Kenpachi had almost cut him in half.

Just what was going on here?! How long had he been out?! Long enough to lose a large amount of his strength. He felt weak, like he had no riatsu at his disposal. He could sense it coming from him, but it felt...different than normal, more pure. He scratched his head, wondering where that thought had come from.

Still trying to grasp the situation, he looked around the room. The clock read 20:04, which meant it had just gotten dark. He could still see a faint, soft glow on the horizon out of his window.

It was a familiar scene. One he'd seen hundreds if not thousands of times, but this night seemed to have a dangerous, ominous atmosphere. The atmosphere felt heavy and dense, just like...

"A hollow," he realized aloud. Just fabulous.

Just as he made to get up and find his shinigami badge (hey, his mind my not be functioning at the moment, but he could figure that out after he took out immediate threats), movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to whirl around. He crouched, ready to spring on the invader only to relax when he saw Rukia standing there, gazing around his room. A hole in the wall closed behind her.

Oh yeah, he'd forgotten she could do that. He'd have to ask her how. Maybe it was something he could use when chasing faster or more annoying hollows.

"Oi, Rukia," he said aloud, moving to stand up. Strangely enough, she jumped at his voice and fell off the desk she'd been standing on. Ichigo couldn't help but snicker, even as he reached out to help her up.

She seemed too dazed to refuse his hand until she glanced up and realized who had come to her aid. Looking confused and utterly surprised, she jumped back and out of his reach.

"You can see me?" she asked incredulously. "You can touch me?!"

Ichigo blinked in surprise before his trademark scowl fell over his face. He'd been expecting something more along the lines of, 'Good, I don't have to beat you awake.' "Of course I can. Stop being stupid."

"I-I'm not being stupid!" she said, her voice a little louder than normal. "Humans aren't supposed to see Shinigami!"

The orange-haired boy blinked, then he sighed. "It's a dumb prank," he said dryly. "Whose idea was it? Renji?"

Rukia blinked, her surprise turning into outright shock. "How do you know a seated officer of the 11th squad?!"

"Huh?" Ichigo asked. "He's the lieutenant of the 6th squad."

The dark haired girl snorted. "Not in this lifetime."

Ichigo contemplated her for a moment. Right, this had to be a dream...or else, the after-after life had a really weird (he'd say cruel, but he'd been around Hat 'n Clogs too much) sense of humor. He didn't want to think about exactly what that thought entailed because he felt sure that if he did, he'd freak out and accidentally destroy the house or something drastic like that. So, instead, he turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait," she said suddenly. "Where are you going?"

The human paused and shrugged, looking over his shoulder. "I'm not in the mood to play along. So while you stay up here and mess around, I'm going to find my badge and take out the hollow myself."

She stuttered at him for a moment, but grabbed him just as he put his hand on the knob.

"Wait!" She looked more flustered than he'd seen her in a long time. "Who are you?! And how do you know about hollows?! And how can you see them?! And me?! And how can you track them?!"

Ichigo scowled blankly down at her. "Track them?" he asked, his mind catching on the last question. "I track them about as well as I always have. Nothing's changed there. Still pathetic, but I can always feel them. That's what you're here for though, isn't it? I mean you can't just drop by and say 'hi' or anything."

Again, he left her sputtering as he turned and opened the door. A wave of spiritual energy hit him, but it wasn't more than a huge hollow, if that. Nothing he couldn't handle. He just had to find his badge first. Why hadn't it been on his desk? Or strung through a belt loop on his pants where he usually put it? He must have left it downstairs or somewhere else. And why was he wearing his winter uniform? It hadn't really registered to him before as anything but his school uniform, but now that he'd calmed down marginally, he found that not only was he wearing his winter uniform, but his old one from his freshman year. That made no sense at all if-

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" A scream shattered the night tangibly and Ichigo's heart froze in his chest.

"Karin! Yuzu!" He yelled, leaping forward. Vaguely he was aware of Rukia racing out of his room behind him, but pushed that to the back of his mind. Rukia could take care of herself for the most part. Karin and Yuzu on the other hand...

A loud crash shook the house, and he got down to the living room just in time to see a large hand snatch a scurrying Karin who had pushed Yuzu out of the way.

"Karin!" He yelled, diving out after her.

"Human, wait!" He heard Rukia yell, and vaguely made mental note for payback later (she shouldn't be keeping up with the stupid prank when his family's lives were on the line), but pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he concentrated on the hollow and his sister.

"Karin!" He yelled again.

"Ichi-go..." she struggled to gasp out. "What's...going on?"

Wait, couldn't she see hollows too? Hadn't she commented on how she could see him as a Shinigami? She kept looking around like she couldn't see what had grabbed her. And on top of that, that hollow looked extremely familiar...

"Hey you!" he yelled out, drawing the hollow's attention before calling it a few choice words that he would normally never use in front of his sisters. Yet again, Ichigo pushed his previous thoughts away to go over later as he dove at the hollow. Reaching up, he went to grab Zangetsu...and his hand closed on thin air.

No badge. Right. He was still human.

He _really_ needed to learn to get out of his body without that badge.

The hollow reached out for him, and he made to dodge, until a blur flew by and slashed the thing's wrist. It howled in pain and snatched its overly-large hand back, simultaneously dropping Karin.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He heard Rukia yell, but found he didn't really care as he rushed forward to catch Karin.

Why did this all seem so familiar?

"Karin?" he asked. She didn't respond, but he could tell she'd just passed out. Thank goodness.

"The hollow didn't eat your sisters' souls," he heard Rukia say.

"I know," he snapped back as he leaned Karin up against the side of the house, then realized how harsh he sounded and forced himself to take a deep breath. That's when he noticed where Rukia had landed: between the hollow and them. That wouldn't be so unusual if he didn't also realize where he'd seen that stance before.

Blinking, and in more than a little shock, he stood shakily, suddenly feeling weak in the knees. That had been one of the memories that stood out the strongest in his mind from that night...

From the night he'd _first_ _met _Rukia.

Ichigo had come across his share of things that could stop him in his tracks; most of them since he had become a Shinigami. This one left them all in the dust.

He'd heard of flashbacks, but this went _way_ beyond just remembering. He could feel the breeze on his skin, and Karin's pulse. He could see details he never would have picked up before about the landscape; how bright the moon was, and how the spring leaves shivered in the breeze...

This _had _to be real! But...this _couldn't_ be real!

Rukia fought the hollow for what seemed like forever to Ichigo, although it couldn't have been more than a few moments. He absently found his mind analyzing the fight and kept wondering why she continuously left herself open. Yes she didn't fight as well as some people in the Soul Society, but she wasn't _that _bad either.

The observation didn't help much.

Finally, she got the upper hand and slashed at it's mask. It dodged, but not fast enough. The blade cut through the bone-like material easily, although it didn't penetrate deeply enough to cleanse the spirit fully. She took a step back, crouching so she could jump at the thing again, when it did something unexpected.

Realizing its life was in danger, the hollow threw itself to the side, missing Sode no Shirayuki by millimeters, and then dove directly at Ichigo.

He jolted out of his shock, and went to step to the side, when he realized that it would hit Karin if he moved.

There was no hesitation in his decision. He braced himself against the oncoming freight train.

The hollow hit him, teeth first. He'd felt more pain before, and for longer periods of time. That was, until the sensation of his soul being ripped out and away from him began to register in his mind. He'd only hurt that much once before; when he'd begun the hollow transformation at the bottom of Urahara's giant pit.

He screamed, frantically trying to do something to stop the pain, flailing, calling on his riatsu or Zangetsu or even his hollow! He'd take anything!

He couldn't have been more thankful when the feeling began to dull and the already darkened world faded to black, and...

He shot up on his bed, clutching at his chest...again. His clock read 20:04 and moonlight came streaming through his bedroom window.

At that point, his mind shut down.

He sat there for several seconds, just staring at the wall of his room, barely able to acknowledge when Rukia came through her hole.

Again.

It had to be some sort of trick...some kind of torture on Aizen's part. He'd finally released his sword in front of Ichigo, and now the guy was playing with his head. That's all he could really come up with, because he couldn't _really_ have gone back in time. Even Urahara couldn't come up with something like that...could he?

It was Yuzu's scream that had him jumping out of bed and racing down the stairs, right after Rukia (who seemed oblivious to him).

It never even occurred to him to not go. He was an older brother, so he would protect his sisters _every single time_.

"Ichi-go..." Yuzu said as she stumbled up the stairs, hand outstretched toward him. "Save...Karin..."

He couldn't bare to leave her like that. Had he just done so before? He couldn't remember. Shaking that thought from his head, he nodded down at her as he rushed by. Okay, so it wasn't much, but he didn't exactly have the luxury of time.

He rushed outside in time to see Rukia slash at the hollow's arm and release Karin. Without wasting a breath, he launched himself at his sister's falling form. Why was he so slow?! Even as a human he shouldn't be this unable to move!

She landed clumsily but safely in his arms, still breathing, and he immediately moved her out of the way and back inside the house. Once she'd been set on the couch, he rushed back outside just in time to see Rukia take a step back after almost slashing through the thing's mask.

It eyed him, and dodged to the side, barely avoiding the Shinigami's attack and heading straight for Ichigo.

He dodged this time. It wasn't easy, and he had to practically throw himself on the ground, but he avoided the attack. The hollow crashed through a lamp post and into the side of their neighbor's house. Before it could even get up, Rukia was on it, finishing the job.

With one last, pained shriek, it dissipated, leaving Rukia crouched on the ground. She stood up and sheathed her sword one more time with a satisfied nod. When she turned around and saw Ichigo standing there, staring at her, she froze.

"Can you see me?" she asked slowly.

"Of course I can," Ichigo muttered, scowling.

"Did you see that fight?"

He didn't even dignify that with an answer.

"Well," she said, smiling in the fake, devious way he knew she would before she did something he hated, "look at this." His eyes flashed down to her hand and the little, spring-loaded cylinder with a duck head on top.

"Don't you even think about using that on me," he growled.

She blinked up at him, not answering.

"Besides," he muttered, "it won't work-"

The last thing he remembered was a poof, and then...

"GOOD MORNING ICHIGOOOOO!"

He scrambled out of the way of his father's feet and subdued him with a little more effort on his part than he expected to have to use. It took him a moment to get his bearings, then last night's events came rushing back to him.

"Wait," he muttered, shaking his head. "A truck ran into our house last night?!"

"So you remember it!"

He nodded, then shook his head. "But...then what...about..." Ichigo liked to think that he didn't often speak when he didn't know what to say. Perhaps that said more about his state of mind than anything else. He remembered fairly clearly Rukia fighting the same hollow twice. Once the first time, when she'd had to transfer her powers over to him, and once the second time when he'd stopped the hollow from getting to Karin. The thought caused him to shudder and rub at his chest again. Had it eaten him? Yeah, he'd like to avoid doing that again.

Then he remembered an amazingly large, strange-looking truck crashing through the wall, leaving a gaping hole, backing up in a curve that ended up taking out a light post and his neighbor's wall, and then driving off...

A vague image of Rukia defeating the hollow came briefly to mind before it tried to vanish, but he grasped onto it and held it firmly in his mind. The image of the memory eraser she used on his family the first time around also flashed through his thoughts. A poof in his face and then his father waking him up.

"Rukia..." he seethed, dropping his father and heading out the door, grabbing a towel before turning towards the bathroom.

"Wait," his father sat up, scratching his head gingerly. "Who?"

xXx

"Well, tha' didn't work out very well now, did it?" Ichimaru Gin grinned at his former Captain after the man had explained the situation. Gin had to admit, he was impressed at Aizen's network. It wasn't easy to get undetected monitoring on the real world. Of course, if anyone could pull it off, Souske Aizen could.

The brown-haired captain returned the grin with a gentle smile of his own. "This outcome was always a possibility."

Gin's mouth grew wider, but he wisely decided not to speak until he'd thought out his words a little more carefully. The head traitor was probably seething inside now that, after all his careful planning, this would take even more work.

"We could wait for the former Twelfth-squad Captain to make a move," Tousen suggested from the side. Gin looked over at the dark-skinned man, wondering—not for the first time—if he really were just that eager to please, or if he had a death wish. He observed the interaction between the other two carefully. It wasn't often all three of them could afford to meet together, after all, but this had apparently been an emergency, and they'd convened at their earliest opportunity. Even now, they didn't have long.

"Is that your opinion, Tousen?" Aizen asked, his own smile widening. Gin suppressed a shudder. And people thought _his_ grin was creepy.

"It is merely a suggestion, Aizen-sama" the blind man bowed quickly.

Somewhat appeased, Aizen let it go in the unusual form of a vague explanation. "If we wait, the conditions will not be optimal. We will act now."

Again, Tousen bowed, reminded of his place. "Of course, Aizen-sama."

With the atmosphere somewhat cooled, Gin decided to speak up. "So, yer just gonna throw a bunch more hollows his way, so she'll have to go save him?"

Aizen simply smiled and left.

"It'll be interestin' if he dies," the Third Squad Captain commented to Tousen.

The dark-skinned Shinigami raised an eyebrow. "Aizen-sama would only allow that to happen if it fit into his plans." With that, he turned, leaving Gin in the small room of the Fifth Squad Barracks where they had met.

Again, the Captain's grin widened. "I wonder," he said before he too left.

xXx

So, just as a question, I'd like to see what people think about sending Ichigo back in time. What are your thoughts? Ideas? Criticisms? And what would you like to see happen in this (Pg rated please, this is not a porn fic nor is it a gore fic).


	2. Rule One: Don't Expose Yourself

Ichigo hadn't really realized just how much he'd grown in strength since he'd very first met Rukia. Now, it was painfully obvious, even for him. If everyone said his spiritual power when Ishida had first challenged him seemed like a faucet always turned on at full blast, then he'd eventually grown to a large, rapid river constantly spilling into the ocean. Having to be reduced to a faucet again...frustration didn't even _begin _to cover it. His hollow would have laughed at him for being such a dunce if he'd been there.

His eyes suddenly widened as realization hit him. He didn't even notice when the warm water of the shower began to wash over his decidedly not-aching body. That was when it really sunk in: If he'd really gone back in time, then he wasn't a Visored anymore. It took him a moment to fully wrap his mind around the concept. It felt strange to suddenly not have to worry about accepting that knowledge when he'd struggled to do so for so long.

His eyes fixed half-heartedly on the shower head and he continued to just stand there blinking because the surprise and realization wouldn't let him do much else. After all he'd been through, the training and pain and fear, did the fact that he no longer had the result of all that bother him? It didn't take him as long as he thought it would to come to a conclusion. With the exception of the power loss, he had absolutely no complaints. The thought that he wouldn't have to worry about that second, creepy, nagging voice in the back of his head didn't just bring a smile to his lips, it actually caused him to laugh heartily. Of course, that immediately bothered him. Ichigo chuckled, smiled and even grinned every now and then. He didn't laugh out loud. That was specifically a hollow trait. Was his hollow still there? Ichigo couldn't sense him.

His face paled as another thought occurred to him. Had they... merged somehow?

Suppressing a shudder, he quickly pushed that thought from his mind and decided to actually go and search his inner world...just in case.

It only took a few moments for the steamy bathroom to fade from his senses. Sitting up in his inner world, he sat up and began to search the sideways sky scrapers for the familiar, white form. Thankfully, he could see nothing but blue with the exception of the white clouds floating upwards. After a few minutes, he smiled, realizing that the world was indeed empty. Then the realization of that wiped said smile from his face. He couldn't see or feel any other beings in his mind at all. While his hollow's lack of presence did not bother him in the slightest, Zangetsu's absence did. He'd have to fix that.

Thing was, he had no idea _how_ to fix it. He needed someone who was much better at figuring out these plots than he was; someone who could point him in the right direction and tell him who to take out or what he had to accomplish.

Three people immediately sprang to mind: Urahara, Ishida and Rukia.

He could imagine the look on Urahara's face as he tried to explain this away. Insufferable son of a...yeah, not happening.

Ishida—well, he didn't want to even try to figure out how to drag that stick out of the dark-haired jerk's butt without fighting another menos. Trying to get through to him _on top_ of explaining anything dealing with Shinigami (and why he wanted to gain Shinigami powers)...just no.

So that left Rukia. But his memories of last night (the _real _memories) had started to return. He could picture the way she'd looked at him, like he was some sort of child who had seen something he shouldn't. She didn't know him as anyone apart from 'the boy who witnessed everything'.

That thought brought a frown to his face. He didn't like the idea of Rukia not knowing him. It'd become such a normal, _reliable_ fact in his life. Now that he wasn't a Shinigami (yet), she probably wouldn't give him a second glance. Which brought him back to the thought that he needed to get his Shinigami powers.

Which he couldn't get without Rukia.

Catch 22.

Unless he wanted to go to Urahara...

That thought couldn't have been dismissed faster. He brought a hand up to rub at his chest, almost expecting the hollow hole to be there.

No, that was a last resort. And even then...

So what would he do? Running a towel through his hair as he stepped out, he realized he didn't know. He had absolutely no idea.

After a few more contemplative thoughts, he shrugged. He'd just have to wing it then. It wasn't like he hadn't done that before.

Nodding, he wrapped the towel around his waist and went back to his room to change for school.

xXx

The walk to school was surprisingly calm compared to the frantic running around that consisted of his family trying to clean up after the "truck". He always enjoyed walking. The physical activity that had absolutely no point other than to get somewhere at your own leisurely pace always calmed him down and helped him think. Whenever he had something he needed to mull over, he tended to wander and now was no exception.

How had this happened to begin with? Now that the fallout with the whole fiasco from the night before had more or less been dealt with, and he wasn't groggy from whatever the heck Rukia did to him (he _would _get retribution for that) he found he finally had a chance to think about the obvious: Had he really gone back in time? This morning, in the shower, it had seemed like he'd already accepted it. But really, how could this be happening?

Had everything been a dream? If so, it would have to be some sort of vision, seeing as Rukia already came back the night before. So either he was still dreaming (he'd pinched himself several times, and the pain had been real so he doubted it), or he was still under Aizen's influence.

That had sobered him immensely. It was the only explanation he could seriously consider. Why would the traitor do this though? Sticking Ichigo in an illusion where he would relive the past all over again without memories was one thing, but the fact that he remembered so much made absolutely no sense!

Then again, nothing Aizen ever did made sense until he explained his plans...after he'd carried them out and left a wake of bodies behind him.

The ex-captain had to be manipulating him to do his bidding in the real world, or something like that. How could he break out of the hold then? He'd have to, somehow. Without access to his hollow (which, he thought resignedly, he may still have after all if he were subject to whatever Aizen was doing) or Zangetsu, he had no idea.

He'd talk to Rukia and figure it out either with her help on his own. He didn't want to count on her assistance though, as she again didn't seem to want to even give him the time of day. Then perhaps he could spot some inconsistencies at school that could confirm his theory about an illusionary world.

A voice in the back of his mind (thankfully not hollow) kept grating at him, though. It kept insisting that if he were in some sort of illusion set up by Aizen, he'd have to have seen the man release his sword...and he could not for the life of him remember anything even similar. So either Aizen had done so without anyone knowing (he wouldn't put it past the egotistical sociopath), or...this was real.

He shook his head. How could this be real? As far as he knew people didn't go back in time and relive their past.

Maybe he would have to go to Urahara after all.

Ugh.

"-by a truck?!" Tatsuki asked loudly as he turned into the classroom. He paused for a moment, watching his group of friends by the window. Here they were, sitting like any normal students in class. Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro...but his eyes lingered the longest on the innocent, light-haired girl watching her friends with wide eyes.

Inoue.

Not the broken shell they'd somehow managed to find and drag out of Hueco Mundo, but the boisterous, unpredictable, innocent high-schooler. The one who liked to laugh and twirl vegetables around her fingers while she talked to him.

It hurt to see her like that. If this were an illusion, it was dead on.

"What if someone was injured?!" Tatsuki continued. Even she seemed more upbeat and less weighed down. "Or _dead_ even?!" Why did she sound like she was going to kill him the next time she saw him? A small smile touched his lips. He'd missed the old Tatsuki too.

Sighing, he walked up behind her and smacked her lightly on the head with his book bag. "I'm not dead," he muttered, ignoring the weird sense of deja vu. Everyone turned to look at him with varying expressions of relief and annoyance (the latter mostly from Tatsuki who glared at him as she rubbed the back of her head). "Sorry to disappoint you but no one was injured."

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue quite literally squeaked before her face suddenly broke into the brightest smile he'd seen on her since they'd returned from the Soul Society. "G...good morning!"

In that moment, he wished with all of his heart that this were real. He wanted to keep his friends, especially her, as happy, carefree and innocent as they were now.

After a moment, he realized that he hadn't answered, and she had started to fidget under his scrutiny. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tatsuki's face darken suspiciously.

"Inoue," he smiled, unable to hide a slightly wistful note, "I'm glad you're okay."

Silence met him. She stared at him, flushing slightly for some reason while Tatsuki seemed utterly mortified. Keigo's jaw had dropped and he stared blankly at Ichigo like the world had just collapsed around them. Mizuiro looked on with wide eyes in an otherwise expressionless face.

Just as the sudden silence began to really grate on Ichigo's nerves, Tatsuki broke out of her reverie and pounced on him, smacking the back of his head. Way back when, he would have been upset that she'd hit him so hard, but now? Well, the attack would have seemed hard if he didn't compare it to Ishida, Ikkaku, Renji, Kenpachi, Byakuya, his Hollow, Zangetsu, Urahara, Yourichi, Grimmjaw, Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, Yammi, Gin and Aizen (just to name those that came immediately to mind). "It's Inoue-san, to you!" she growled.

"I-I'm always fine, Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue launched into a mini-tirade that somehow had to do with racing cars and polka dots, probably half to calm Tatsuki down (why was she so upset anyway?) and half to cover from her own shock. After a moment, she paused and turned back to Ichigo hesitantly. "Why wouldn't I be fine? I'm as fit as ever!" To prove it, she punched herself in the head.

Ichigo couldn't help but shake his head slightly. "Right," he said and sat down.

Tatsuki, obviously expecting him to turn around and either say or do something in retaliation to her assault, stared in surprise. Keigo's look of shock moved from 'world exploding' to 'universe ceasing to exist' and Mizuiro's now looked mildly worried.

Ichigo sighed inwardly but refused to say anything.

"So..." Mizuiro started, watching him carefully, "did you stay back to help with the repairs?"

Ichigo nodded, then looked around at the class. What period was this? Probably third. He couldn't remember very well, so he decided to ask.

"Social Studies," his friend replied to his inquiry.

"Right," he nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem," Mizuiro said. Keigo had continued to stare at him from his seat and for once didn't say anything. Was Ichigo not defending himself when someone yelled at him or hit him really that out of character? It just didn't seem that important now. "Are you okay, Ichigo?"

_No._ Ichigo couldn't help but thinking. _ I have no idea what's going on, and have no way to counter any of it, and Aizen's probably using me to destroy the world, the soul society and whatever other place he wanted to get to with the King's Key. _

Had he been able to create it yet? That thought didn't sit well with Ichigo.

"Actually," he said suddenly, standing up again, "I'm not."

"What's wrong?" Mizuiro asked just as Keigo shouted out "I knew it!" Both Ichigo and Mizuiro turned to look at him at his outburst. "You're sick with some exotic disease that's affecting your brain!"

Apparently Inoue heard that one. "What?!" she asked, genuinely frightened. He had to fight a wince. That look on her face brought back too many unpleasant memories. "No way! Is it Malaria? Or maybe Ebola! Kurosaki-kun, where does it hurt?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I think it's just a cold."

"Then why did you come to school at all?" Tatsuki asked.

The former shinigami shrugged. "Tell Ochi-san for me, will you?"

With that, he turned and walked out of the classroom, mentally berating himself. What was he doing? Heading off to school when he had to stop Karakura Town from being destroyed? No, he had to find Rukia now.

He still had no idea what he'd do once he did find her. Walking up to her and saying: "Hi, I need your powers," probably wouldn't get him anywhere.

Gah! He hated having to think things through before hand. That was one reason he liked fighting. Fights were all about acting before your opponent or reacting to something they did. Sometimes he came up with a plan, but most of the time he just acted on instinct.

He paused for a moment at that thought. Those words sounded awfully familiar. He shuddered, forcefully returning his thought process to the problem at hand.

It didn't help. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that unless he jumped in front of a Hollow and Rukia had no other choice but to block like she did that first time, there would be no reason to give her powers to him. Besides, it was illegal in the Soul Society. That's what had given Aizen the leverage to have her arrested and executed.

That brought a whole new train of thought to mind. Could he put her through all of that again? The very idea bothered him deeply. His determined steps slowed and stopped, and he stood there thinking. Just letting her get hurt enough that she had to give him powers to save their lives went against everything he believed—his very nature; maybe even deeper.

Then the idea of her being held for execution again...the thought alone made him sick. He almost hadn't made it the first time. What if he didn't make it in time the second time?

No, he couldn't risk it.

But then how could he make this work? He let out another growl of frustration and continued moving down the street.

An hour and a half later, he hadn't found anything except a few lousy punks also skipping school. When they tried to jump him, he felt he'd been given enough provocation to take out his frustration on them. At least they wouldn't need any ambulances, but he doubted they'd be inclined to try and jump him again when they woke up. Unless they were revenge types, in which case he'd just have another fight on his hands in the near future. He didn't notice the slight grin that touched his lips at that thought.

He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be singled out for his hair color. The Shinigami never did that. Then again, their hair colors ranged in just about every shade from fire-engine-red, through yellow before hitting pink of all colors. Orange wasn't that out of the question.

With some effort, he brought his thought process around to the problem at hand again. He'd searched all over Karakura town, and had yet to come across even a glimpse of Rukia. Out of sheer frustration, he slammed his fist into the side of a building, ignoring the cracks that spierwebbed out and around his now aching knuckles.

For the first time since he'd woken up in his bed the evening before he began to consider what might happen if the Shinigami could avoid him to a point where he wouldn't be able to see her again at all. What would happen then? Well, he supposed that Rukia wouldn't be arrested, but she'd still hold the Hyogoku insider her body. No matter what happened, Aizen would retrieve it someday. Also, he wasn't sure if he wanted to chance the whole 'King's Key' thing happening. If he just ignored everything and let events run their course without him involved, Aizen would eventually try to destroy the town.

He would _not_ let that happen.

Again.

Fists clenched in determination, he vowed to himself that he would do everything within his power to keep Rukia and everyone in Karakura Town safe. Somehow, he _had _to find her. Too bad he sucked at tracking riatsu...

Or did he? He'd been able to find the ghost boy in the parakeet at the beginning. Why couldn't he find Rukia? Besides, she had to have a spirit ribbon like everyone else, right? A _red_ ribbon...

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and concentrated on feeling for the traces of riatsu that made up spirit threads. After a moment, they rose around him, floating in a slow dance. Carefully, he examined them, looking for the tell-tale crimson of a Shinigami.

It took him longer than he would care to admit to pin-point the ribbon, but after several minutes of searching, he caught a glimpse of color, just as he felt the familiar brush of her riatsu. Instantly, his hand shot out and caught ahold of the ribbon.

"Yes, Gotcha!" he crowed in triumph. Then, grinning, he took off down the street, following the red ribbon in his hand.

Of course, running almost directly into a hollow didn't exactly figure into his plans. Not that he hadn't expected it (she was a Shinigami after all, it made sense that there would be hollows in the area), but he'd pictured himself having to get her attention while she stood on a flagpole surveying the area. The actual happenstance of turning a corner only to find himself face-to-face with an ugly mask hadn't really crossed his mind. Which is at least partly why it happened.

He could have sworn he saw pure glee flash through the hollow's eyes as it realized what had just run directly into it. That's when it really sunk in: No Rukia equaled no Shinigami powers which equaled no way to fight hollows.

Dang it.

"Aaaauugh!" He hated running, but he wasn't stupid, so he turned on his tail and pumped his legs as hard as he could. It was better than the alternative (being eaten by said hollow)...marginally.

The hollow didn't give up, chasing him for a few miles, at least that's what it felt like to his burning lungs. The pursuit only stopped when he saw a small, familiar, black-clad figure bounding towards them out of the corner of his eye. She could usually take care of the average hollow with little to no problem. This was no exception.

In moments, the monster had dissipated and begun its journey to the Soul Society. Ichigo stopped for breath with his hands on his knees, marveling at how Shinigami powers enhanced his endurance. The fact that he could easily walk the distance he'd spent the last fifteen minutes running in three or four steps as a Shinigami probably had something to do with that too.

He glanced up to see Rukia, who looked smug and satisfied, begin to walk off. Completely ignoring him.

Not. Happening.

Feeling more than a little annoyed, he took aim with his school bag and launched it in her direction. The flat side of it hit her squarely on the back of her head (he didn't want to actually _hurt_ her). "Don't just walk away from me!"

"Ow!" she yelled, then whirled around, surprised and angry, only to come face to face with an even angrier (still a little breathless) human.

"You..." she said after a moment. "You're from last night."

"You erased my memory," Ichigo growled. First thing was first. Flying leaps back in time, he could handle. Having her poof his memories out of existence needed to be addressed. Now. She already almost gave him brain damage on a regular basis with how much she smacked him around.

Her mouth dropped open. "How did you overcome that?" she asked, looking both utterly fascinated and more than a little worried at once.

"I told you it wouldn't work," Ichigo replied, his scowl deepening.

"But why?"

He stood there for several minutes, realizing that he really needed to explain himself and come up with something to convince her to help him. He had come to her for advice, after all. That meant he'd _have_ to tell her something, even if he felt sure she would not believe a word of it.

Sighing, he began to walk off. "Come on."

"Wait," she called, "where are you going?"

He glanced back at her with a resigned expression. "You want an explanation and I'm hungry. There's a convenience store."

Blinking in confusion, it took her a moment to snap out of her minor stupor and follow him in, just like he knew she would.

It took him a minute to fully process that thought, and he came to the conclusion that he'd spent way too much time around Urahara.

xXx

For the first time in a very long time, Rukia didn't know what to think, and as such, she was having a hard time trying to keep her head. Somehow, she'd succeeded so far...barely.

With the communicator to her ear, she continued to wait for her captain's voice to come over the phone, never taking her eyes off of the orange-haired human who sat eating so casually on the park bench—as if he hadn't just turned her entire world on its end.

At first, she'd taken what food he'd offered, but as his summary wore on, she found she'd lost her appetite. Now the only thing she could seem to do was sip the strange drink that she'd had to have him open. It tasted good, or at least it had before she'd lost any sense of taste due to utter shock. It hadn't taken her long to realize that even if his story were just a made-up rambling, with everything he knew, this went way over her head.

She'd begun to get impatient, tapping her foot as she waited, hoping to keep the butterflies in her stomach at bay.

"You're sure no one else will hear it?" the boy—Ichigo—asked as he swallowed. "Not the twelfth squad or anything?"

Said butterflies suddenly became a whirlwind at his casual mention of something he should very well have absolutely no knowledge of. How was this possible?!

"N-no," she responded, trying to sound strong.

He nodded, apparently satisfied and dug around for the last store-bought onigiri. Honestly, he ate more than Renji did.

"Kuchiki?" she heard her captain's voice come over the phone and nearly melted with relief. "I'm here. What's wrong?"

He sounded worried. Trust her captain to be so concerned for his officers. She looked back over at Ichigo, who looked up at her expectantly. "Sir, I have...a situation."

"What is it?"

"Make sure," Ichigo said again, his scowl deepening. Did he ever _not_ scowl?

"Um, request a private line please, sir, not recorded."

She could almost see the surprise on his face. "Very well, just a moment." The line went silent for a few seconds before he returned. "Alright, Kuchiki," he said gently, "now what is this situation."

"Sir, I've met this boy," she started, then paused, unsure of where to start. After a few moment, she heard him chuckle.

"Kuchiki," he said, "I thought this would be something life threatening. You really had me worried."

It took a moment for her to catch on. "N-no sir!" she stuttered, her face going red. "Not like that! It's just...he _knows_ things."

"Knows things?"

She hesitated again, glancing back at the boy, who hadn't taken his intense gaze off of her. She found it more than a little disconcerting.

"Um...Sir, he requested that I get ahold of you personally."

That caused him to pause. "He did? Why?" It was his way of saying, 'I'm not quite sure I understand.' Right. She put a hand to the bridge of her nose and tried to massage away the headache that had begun to build. It didn't work.

"By name," she added. His utter silence spoke volumes of his shock. "Sir, he asked for you because he said he didn't trust most of the other Captains, including the Sou-taichou. I mean no disrespect, sir. I'm only repeating what he said!" She took a deep breath. "He said he knew where Captain's Unohana and Komomura's loyalties lay and that he couldn't trust them for now. He said that Captain Hitsugaya needed to," she paused, clearing her throat, "remove the stick from his, um, backside. He also said he wouldn't trust Captain Kurotsuchi if his life depended on it, and um, similar things about the other Captains.

"Sir," she couldn't help the desperate note that creeped into her voice, "what's going on?"

xXx

Ukitake couldn't help but find himself utterly shocked at his subordinate's words. Some random kid knew Gotai 13 Captains so well? His mind couldn't seem to fathom this. They were missing something. Was he a spirit? Or a Human? Or maybe a deserter? The last one made the most sense, but who?

"You said he said things about the other captains. Did he mention anyone else?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," she said quietly. "He said that he needed to beat some sense into Nii-sama and Renji before he could trust them and trusting the second squad captain at this point would be a bad idea."

"I see," he said, now understanding why his subordinate had come to him. He hadn't just somehow found out about the captains, but the vice captains as well. "Is that all he said? Just things about the captains?"

"No, sir."

He looked around for a chair and pulled one over. It seemed like this would take a while. "Very well, Kuchiki, continue."

"Sir..." she said, sounding far too old and tired for her age, "he looks like Kaien-dono."

His heart nearly stopped. Could it possibly be that Kaien was reborn and somehow retained his memories of the Soul Society? He'd never heard of such a case, and if the possibility existed, the implications were _monstrous._

"Sir?" he heard Rukia's uncertain voice from the other end again.

"Yes, Kuchiki."

"He asked if he could speak with you."

Ukitake hesitated. This was highly unconventional. Still, it seemed like the best way to get answers. "Very well, but stay close by, Kuchiki," he said sternly.

"Yes, sir!" she said. He heard a shuffle as she handed the communicator over. Then a deep voice came over the line.

"Hello." He couldn't place the voice. It didn't sound like Kaien's. Of course, that didn't mean much of anything, but he still felt a slight stab of disappointment. He could hear traces of youth in a voice that had apparently only recently reached manhood. A young teen, at the most.

"Hello, young man. This is Captain Ukitake. May I have your name?"

A pause. "Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo." A surprisingly feminine name that didn't seem to fit the voice at all. He'd ask about that later. Right now, he had more important things to discuss.

"It's nice to meet you, Kurosaki-san," he said pleasantly. "My subordinate says you wish to speak with me?"

He heard something ruffle, like someone rubbing the back of their head near the phone. "Yeah, um, actually I just wanted to talk to her. She insisted on calling back to the Soul Society for advice."

"I see," Ukitake nodded, mentally applauding his team member. "Is that when you asked for me by name?"

"Yeah."

Okay, time to get answers. "How do you know me? Have we ever met before?"

The boy fell silent again, and when he answered he sounded a little more unsure. "It's...kind of complicated."

"I have time."

It took him even longer to reply this time. "I guess I can tell you," he said slowly. "Rukia always trusted you..."

He smiled at the thought of his subordinate's faith in him. Immediately afterward, his smile fell to a frown. "Trusted?" Why would he use that particular wording? Past tense...

"Ukitake-san," he finally spoke up. "I'm from the future."

Well, he had to admit he had not been expecting that.

"Excuse me?"

"How hard is it to understand?" he heard the boy mutter.

"Don't speak to Captain Ukitake like that!" Rukia reprimanded in the background.

"Forgive me, Kurosaki-san, but that took me by surprise. It's also a little difficult to believe."

A sigh from the other end. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that."

"Exactly..._how_ are you from the future?" Whether he could believe it or not, Ukitake could tell that the boy did believe it. The best way to understand someone was to see it from their point of view, so the Thirteenth Squad Captain decided to humor him.

It took quite a few more seconds before the boy answered again. He either thought his words out carefully (perhaps to concur with whatever conspiracy he might be involved with, although nothing currently came to Ukitake's mind), or he was having a difficult time trying to put his thoughts and experiences into words.

"I...don't know. I was just fighting Aiz—uh..." he paused for a moment, "someone, and then I ended up back in time."

He let the slip of the tongue go for now, wondering who "Eyes" was. "About how long?"

"About four months."

He blinked. "Four months? And you're a human?"

A pause, then a slightly strained, "Yes." He wondered why the boy sounded so anxious.

"How do you know about the Shinigami?"

Another sigh. "That's a long story too."

"Then," Ukitake couldn't help the smile that came to his face, "it's a good thing we're not paying for this conversation?"

"You sounded like Hat-n-clogs there for a minute."

"Who?"

"Just...someone I know." He was hiding something in that sentence. Ukitake pulled some parchment for notes out from a pocket inside his robe. Quickly, he began to write down basic thoughts to go over later. He would figure this out.

"Alright, Kurosaki-san," he said, still smiling, "your story?"

xXx

Truthfully, Ichigo wasn't exactly sure how he made it through the entire explanation without mentioning Urahara, the Visored or Aizen by name. Still, by the time he'd finished, Rukia had butted in so many times he'd just given up and put Ukitake on speaker phone. He'd been surprised by the quality of the reception.

The really strange thing, though, was that for some of the events, he actually seemed to have two different sets of memories, from two different points of view. Each set of memories had obviously different but similar feelings. Most of those, though, were parts he brushed over or skipped completely, so he didn't have any time to focus and figure out why.

A part of him felt immensely relieved because he couldn't. Another part of him seemed to glower in anger.

He didn't focus on that either.

"So, you're saying," Rukia spoke up, her face twisted while she tried to grasp the seemingly foreign concepts Ichigo had proposed. "You were a living Shinigami, who could fight my brother-whom you're also on a _personal-name basis_ with-on his level!?"

Ichigo didn't like that tone of voice. His scowl deepened.

"Yeah, so?"

"How did you retain your powers after Kuchiki-san returned to the Soul Society?" Ukitake asked, his happy and intrigued tone never fading. "Her powers should have returned to her in the gegai, why didn't they?"

Ichigo almost cursed. And here he thought he'd avoided all of that so well. "Uh," he said, frantically searching his mind for an explanation. "I don't know." Yeah, that sounded intelligent.

"Hmm, I see." That had always been one thing about Ukitake that made Ichigo uncomfortable; he could never tell what the captain was really thinking. It was easy to forget that under that kind, smiling face lay an intelligent, duty-bound and very powerful man. "In that case, there is only one more question for now: Supposing that all of what you said is true, if Kuchiki-san didn't have to give her powers to you to save your lives, why seek her out now?"

Ichigo drew a blank. He knew what people thought of Aizen now. It had been obvious, even to him, that he'd been a very well respected, trusted person. He'd caught hints of that from many people, not the least of which was Urahara. The Visored had explained in a nutshell what had happened to them, and how the traitor had gotten off clean, neatly framing Urahara and Tessai for his own actions.

Even he knew that if he pointed out Aizen now, his cause would be lost.

So he stuck as closely to the truth as he could. "Someone's planning on attacking the Soul Society and Karakura Town. In the future, they already have."

"Who?"

"I don't know." It was starting to sound like a broken record to him, but he couldn't come up with anything else. "But we do know that they're creating Arrancars in Hueco Mundo."

"Arrancars? As in hollows that have stripped off their masks in an attempt to gain Shinigami powers?"

Rukia gasped. "Is that possible?"

It was Ukitake's turn to pause. Finally he spoke. "Kuchiki-san, you never heard that."

He could hear her voice quiver as she answered. "H-hai, Captain."

"Are those the arrancar you speak of, Kurosaki-san?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said, just a touch of uncertainty in his voice. Then he said softly, "Rukia? Are you okay?" She didn't answer.

"And they attack the Soul Society?" Ukitake asked.

"They attacked Karakura Town first," Ichigo said, still thinking through his words as carefully as he could. "The Soul Society figured out that they were after the King's Key, and they could convert Karakrua Town into one."

A long pause met his explanation. Then, very slowly, Ukitake spoke again. "Alright, Kurosaki-san. I'm inclined believe you."

xXx

"What?!" Rukia practically shrieked. Ichigo saw her stand up in shock out of the corner of his eye.

"No one should know about that," Ukitake said to her. "Let alone some human boy from Earth."

"What is the King's Key?"

"I don't know if I can tell you, Kuchiki-san. I'll have to ask the Sou-taichou first."

The expression of disappointment with the slightest twinge of betrayal that crossed her face reminded Ichigo far too much of the girl in the tower. His resolve hardened.

"So you wanted to warn us? So that we can help to protect Karakura Town, and ultimately the Soul Society as well?" Ukitake asked Ichigo.

"Yes," Ichigo responded immediately, then realized he hadn't fully thought through those implications. "If you can," he added on.

"If we can?" Ukitake's voice relaxed, a touch of laughter creeping back into his words. "We have some very powerful fighters here, Kurosaki-san. I think we'll be able to spare a few."

"It's not enough," Ichigo insisted. "Aiz—uh, they have arrancar that used to be high-level adjucas on their side. A few even used to be Vasto Lords. Even right now, they're powerful enough that there would be little competition if they attacked the Soul Society and took it by surprise."

He could tell he was getting through to the captain, but he had no idea if could truly convince him without revealing Urahara's or Aizen's parts in everything.

"Then why haven't they?" Ukitake asked.

Ichigo found himself pausing again, thinking about that. Aizen didn't have the Hogyoku right now...and he didn't have Ichigo. He needed to keep playing his part until he got what he wanted. Which brought up a question that had never really occurred to him before: If Ichigo was the catalyst, and Aizen wanted Ichigo to get stronger, why?

"They're looking for something," he said finally. "Something that tears down the walls between hollow and Shinigami."

"Oh?" Ukitake sounded openly skeptical.

"Something that a Shinigami has."

"Sounds awfully dangerous for a Shinigami to have, unless it's one of the captains," the white-haired man pointed out.

"The Shinigami doesn't know they have it. It's hidden in their soul."

"How?"

Ichigo almost shouted in aggravation, and this time he answered truthfully. "I don't know!" It had something to do with Urahara putting it there, but he really didn't know why Urahara had chosen Rukia (or how), nor did he know why the shopkeeper had put it there exactly. "I just know that they need to find the right Shinigami and remove it."

Ukitake sighed. "Kurosaki-san, you must admit that even with everything you've told me I don't know if I can convince the rest of the Gotai 13 to even listen to your story, let alone believe it, especially when I tell them how much you don't know. These points will be brought up, and neither you nor I will have answers."

The orange-haired boy ground his teeth, watching his shadow lengthen out of the corner of his eye as he stood up . "If you don't do something, everyone will die! That's why I-"

Rukia interrupted him then, sounding surprised. Her words chilled him to the bone. "Captain Aizen? What are you-"

Ichigo turned around, seemingly in slow motion, just in time to see Rukia fall to the ground, her eyes wide with shock. Then the spiritual pressure hit him too, and his knees could no longer support him.

"You're stronger than I anticipated if you could hear my footsteps," the traitor himself said, standing over her menacingly, keeping her down purely with his utterly _massive_ spiritual pressure. Funny, it had never seemed that big before.

"Rukia!" Ichigo managed to yell, ignoring Ukitake's worried voice over the phone.

"Oh, don't worry," Aizen smiled up at him. "I can't have her die just yet. You, on the other hand... Well, I _was_ just going to let you live and hope you continued to grow stronger by some other means, but now I can see that you're going to be more trouble than you're worth. Goodbye."

He began to walk forward, raising his sword as if in slow motion. Ichigo's eyes hardened. He would not go down without a fight.

"It was Aizen!" He yelled into the phone, even as he raised his Riatsu as best he could, knowing full well it wouldn't be nearly enough to protect him. The captain swung his blade down. Ichigo dove out of the way, barely dodging. "Aizen, Gin and Tousen!" he continued, turning to get up and scanning the street around him for something to use as a weapon.

He heard the blade whistle through the air, even as he began to run, and knew he wouldn't make it. "They're traitors! The arr-" he cut off as the very familiar sensation of Aizen's blade cutting through him reached his mind from somewhere around his chest area.

_Why is it always my chest?_ He thought as the world faded to black one more time.

He wasn't surprised when he woke up in bed again. The clock read 20:04.

He growled in frustration and slammed his hand into the wall. It seemed this would be even harder than he'd realized.


	3. Rule Two: Experience Gives Insight

When he saw Rukia this time, he didn't know what to do. Should he just direct her to the hollow and be done with it (resulting in him not getting shinigami powers and her not even knowing him like last time), or should he jump in and let her get hurt like the first time?

The fact that he was even considering the last one made him feel utterly disgusting. What kind of a person would think of allowing his friends to get hurt?

When he heard the hollow's roar from outside, he immediately threw his thoughts to the wind and went dashing downstairs just in time to see Karin push Yuzu out of the way again. What if he got down here faster? He made a mental note to try that again next time—if there were a next time. He most certainly hoped there wasn't. He did _not_ like the fact that he was relying on the situation that much after only three or four resets.

Really, this would drive him mad. He _had_ to figure out how to stop it.

He caught Karin in his arms and went dashing back inside the house to lay her there and out of the way. Then he saw Yuzu laying over by the stairs. Was she hurt? Thinking back, he didn't think she'd been physically injured, but every reset she barely made it to him. Maybe the spiritual pressure?

For a moment, he glanced over his shoulder at the hole in the wall, then decided that Rukia could take care of herself and went over to his other little sister, bringing her to lay on the opposite end of the couch. Good thing they were so skinny and could both fit on it comfortably.

He got back outside just in time to see Rukia slash the hollow mask in two. It dissipated, leaving behind it a strange empty feeling like most ghosts when they moved on or disappeared. That's when she turned and saw him watching her.

"You can see me?" she asked.

He sighed. Not this again. "Yes."

"That's abnormal. Human's aren't supposed to... Well look at this."

"Not gonna happen!" He couldn't help moving his arms up to an "X" shape as she brought the small memory eraser to bear.

She regarded him for a moment. "I just saved the lives of you and your family, and you can't even look at something I ask?" she scoffed.

Ichigo felt a vein throb in his forehead. "Shut up!" he growled, swiping his hand to one side, the other clenching like a fist. "You're talking like some high-and-mighty noble! That won't work on-"

_Poof._ While he'd been talking, she'd used a flash step to run up to him.

"GOOOD MOORNIIING IIIICHIGOOOOO!" As he dodged his father's usual wake-up call, he found himself cursing Rukia again. His (fake) memories showed that same truck came crashing into the wall the night before.

Thankfully, his real memories of that night returned much more quickly this time. Still, trying to sort through all of his memories without dealing with the tampering was frustrating enough. The last thing he needed was her messing with them too.

And he was getting sick of having to help patch up the stupid wall over and over again.

He decided to skip school completely that day as he had more important things to worry about; like saving Karakura Town. Carefully, he went over the "previous day's" events as he searched for Rukia. When had Aizen overheard anything? He had to have some sort of surveillance on Ichigo if he could hear anything at all. The thought sent a shiver down his spine, and he looked over his shoulder, almost expecting the traitor to be there.

Well, he knew where Rukia would be in the near future in any case.

"How can I get out of this?" he asked himself, feeling more frustrated and trapped than ever. He still wasn't sure if this was all real or an Aizen-induced illusion. But what could he do except go along with it?

It took him a good hour and a half to find an area near the place where he'd met Rukia the day before. Once he did, he sat down to think.

Some time later, he noticed the hollow riatsu behind him and looked over his shoulder to see the same monster from the previous day. This time, he didn't want to run. He was angry, upset, and confused. Not a good combination for his enemies. Besides he used to _be_ half hollow. Why should this small fry scare him? He just had to prove he was stronger.

He stood the hollow down, glaring up menacingly as the monster approached. He didn't have access to a lot of Riatsu, but that didn't mean he couldn't at least appear threatening. To the hollow, that really only saw things in terms of "strength", his riatsu flare would at least cause it to pause for a moment.

It did hesitate, watching him warily as if sizing up an enemy. To a hollow, any enemy was pray, but not all pray was an enemy. Ichigo felt a slight burst of satisfaction and at touch of a slightly off-kilter grin brush onto his lips. He'd at least been upgraded from "mere pray" to "possible threat". Still, in hollow speak, he'd really just issued a challenge with that rather weak show of power. It wouldn't take long for the hollow to pull out all the stops and attack.

He didn't know what he'd do at that point...and frankly, he was upset enough that he didn't particularly care.

It didn't even take a few minutes for the Hollow to deem him attackable, but still Ichigo didn't move as the thing charged.

So when the black streak came out of nowhere and jumped in between them, stopping the hollow from reaching him, he couldn't help but start in surprise. Once again, shock and more than a touch of fear flooded through him when he saw Rukia drop down, bloodied and exhausted from the giant tooth marks. Fortunately, she'd been able to do her own damage and the hollow backed away, grabbing at its slightly torn mask.

He hated the deja vu that bombarded him. It felt strange to see that scene occur again at all, let alone during the day.

"You idiot!" Ichigo yelled, rushing forward. This wasn't supposed to happen! Not like this...not again! "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"

Rukia glared up at him from her place on the ground. "I could..." she ground out, "...ask you the same thing. What were you...doing just standing there?"

Ichigo didn't really have any answer for her. Truthfully, he wasn't a hundred percent sure himself. He just wanted a fight, so he could take his frustration out on something.

"Hey mister," he looked behind him, to see a woman holding the hand of a little girl, watching him worriedly. "Are you okay? Did you drop something? Why are you shouting?" The little girl asked, sweet innocence pouring off of her.

Ichigo's breath caught in his throat, and he turned to look at the reptilian hollow, still writhing in pain. Then he turned back to Rukia, who was staring past him at the two humans. "They can't see me," she said as she turned her gaze back on Ichigo.

"I know," he said under his breath to her. Then he turned to look at them. "I'm fine. Go away." The woman seemed offended, and the little girl backed behind her mother shyly, looking like she would cry at any minute. If the situation hadn't been so dire, Ichigo might have muttered something about how he hadn't even been that rude. He watched as they turned and began to walk away...right towards the hollow.

"H-hey!" Ichigo started, but Rukia interrupted him.

"Look, with me injured like this, all we can do is wait for that thing to eat us, or," she paused. Ichigo didn't want her to go on. She did. "I could stab my sword into your body and transfer my powers to you. You could save us...and them." She nodded towards the mother and daughter, who had paused and glared back at him angrily, waiting for him to finish.

Ichigo could only stare at his former friend, torn. He couldn't put her through all that again. He couldn't.

A lump rose in his throat. "It's a felony," he responded. "You can't seriously ask-"

"I know!" she interrupted, half looking like she was trying to convince herself. "But it's either that or die! If I have to live on the run but it saves lives than what do you think I'd choose?!"

The teenager only had a moment to respond as the hollow decided to finally take out it's anger and pain on them. He glanced at the frustrated woman, and the little girl, still nearly in tears. That was all he needed to make up his mind. A small part of him jumped at the idea of finally gaining the power again.

"Give me the sword."

She held out Sode no Shiriyuki, the tip of the blade millimeters from his chest. "I'm Kuchiki Rukia," she said.

Well, he may as well "introduce" himself, just like he had the first time. "Kurosaki Ichigo."

He paid attention as she thrust the sword into his chest, and felt the power fill his soul. Suddenly, a familiar weight rested on his back as his body dropped away, then was pushed to the side by his spiritual force. That might explain the bruises he'd woken up with the next morning the first time.

Also, just like the first time, he ended up with an overly-large sword in his hand. It wasn't Zangetsu though, and he did _not_ like that.

Great, back to a nameless Zanpaktou.

A strange twinge tugged at his consciousness once, but he ignored it in favor of smacking down the giant hand in the process of grabbing for him. The woman and her daughter had been pushed aside, but the hollow didn't seem to want to focus on them, thankfully. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw them both run fearfully away from his prone body and smiled. Now he could focus on the fight.

Almsot instinctually, he slapped the gigantic appendage aside with the flat of the blade and went straight for the mask.

Taken by surprise, the hollow never got a chance to move.

His strike didn't have nearly as much power as he was used to, either from his muscles or his riatsu, but it worked against the hollow. He stood there for a second as the twisted spirit dissolved around him, somehow feeling like he'd really just lost the battle. Blankly, he looked down at the Zanpaktou in his hand. It had the same shape as the first one he remembered. The hilt looked extremely familiar for some reason, and not just from his memories of those first few months too. He tried for a moment to recall where he'd seen it before, but nothing came to him.

"Dude! Look at this guy!" A voice from behind drew him out of his thoughts.

"Is he drunk?" A second voice answered.

Ichigo spun around to see a group of kids, probably a little older than Karin, gathered around his body. The mother and daughter had disappeared (thankfully), but the situation with the kids didn't look promising in the slightest. They should be in school. The fact that they weren't told Ichigo enough about them to get him rushing over to it just as a third kid withdrew a pen from his pocket.

"Let's give him a present!"

They leaned in just as Ichigo and his body rejoined and he sat up gasping, consequently scaring the kids enough to back away, yelling in surprise. After a moment, he looked up at them with a full-on glare.

"You said something about a present?" he asked, no small amount of threat in his voice.

"N-never mind," the kid with the pen said.

"Let's get out of here!" another one hissed. With that, they all took off, running across the open stretch of the park. They had to be pretty dumb to actually sluff in a public park too. Ichigo went to get up and chase them for good measure, when a wave of vertigo suddenly hit him.

Thumping back down, he looked over to see a surprised Rukia staring at him. Blood stained her white robe in several places, and he vaguely felt the need to go and make sure she was alright before the dizziness finally overtook him and he flopped backwards on the ground, unconscious.

xXx

Ichigo awoke in his inner world, laying on the side of a building and looking up past more sky scrapers (they weren't as high as they'd been in the past, he noticed, but they were there—briefly, he wondered if that had to do with the fact that he'd gone back in time, or the fact that Zangetsu and his hollow had beat some sense into him again) to a blue sky with clouds floating lazily up. It would have been nice, pleasant and familiar in a way that didn't scream unnatural (like most of his life had recently) if it hadn't been for the face of the extremely pale woman kneeling above him, staring down at him in a most unpleasant fashion.

"What?!" he exclaimed, sitting bolt upright and almost smashing his head against hers. Fortunately, she dodged his accidental attack before that could happen.

Ichigo practically bounded to his feet, turning and facing her while he stumbled backwards, attempting to put distance between himself and the unknown factor. She only continued to frown at him, not moving other than standing gracefully up as she did so.

Her traditional Japanese kimono fell around her body in smooth, straight lines, almost as if the fabric itself wouldn't tolerate a wrinkle. It had a train at least three feet long hiding her feet, while the obi consisted of purple and yellow material so light, it took Ichigo a moment to realize they had color at all. Long, white hair fell around a face so pale he could have sworn she'd painted it. Various objects lay in her hair and against her head, giving a very mature, rich feeling to the woman's already perfectly postured stance.

It was her eyes, though, that really captured Ichigo's attention. While the rest of her screamed high-class, ancient Samurai family daughter or head-wife, her ice-blue eyes told him he faced no mere woman. She was a hardened warrior who had seen her fair share of battles and won many of them.

They continued to regard each other for several seconds before Ichigo got impatient.

"Who are you?"

Her glare hardened even more. "You are not my wielder. I will not tell you may name."

Actually, that told him all he needed to know. "Weilder?! Wait, you can't be...Sode no Shirayuki?"

The woman's gaze hardened even more and Ichigo couldn't help but back away out of self preservation.

"How do you know that?!" she all but hissed.

"Uh..." Ichigo really didn't have an answer for her.

Then, suddenly, her form blurred as she flash stepped, ending up directly in front of Ichigo not a moment later. "How do you know so much, human?"

"What do you mean, 'so much'?" Ichigo asked, his voice gaining the edge of annoyance he needed to push back. People didn't often get in his face and walk away unscathed.

"Your comment earlier," her icy tone showed her lack of intimidation. "On how transferring shinigami powers was a felony. My wielder was distracted by her own decision, but I was not. How did you know that as well as my name?!"

"None of your dumb business," Ichigo shot back.

She regarded him for a moment, her gaze unreadable. When she spoke, her tone had become even colder. "It is my 'dumb business', if only because I now reside within your consciousness." Ichigo began to wonder if the ice-type Zanpaktou meant to freeze him with her voice alone. He wouldn't put it past her.

Still, what she said caused him to blink stupidly. "Wait, Rukia transferred her Zanpaktou over to me?"

The sword spirit scoffed. "Of course. Zanpaktous represent the most unique and powerful area of a Shinigami's skills. If you know about Shinigami and their laws, how could you not know that?" She cocked her head slightly, her still icy gaze now laced with curiosity.

Ichigo shook his head, still stuck on the idea of Rukia's Zanpaktou inside his head. "But...you weren't there the first time!"

The woman started, eyes wide with surprise. Her body posture, which had been guarded and wary before, now stood somewhat relaxed and open as she realized the implications of his statement.

"The first time?" she asked. "You mean, this has happened before? To Rukia?!"

Ichigo almost kicked himself.

"Uh...it's a long story."

Her former posture returned with a dry gaze that screamed unimpressed. "You just used shinigami powers for the first time," she said, her voice matching her gaze. "The new power level alone will cause your human body to remain unconscious for several hours as it adjusts. We have the time."

Ichigo had seen that look before. Rukia got it whenever she got stubborn and persistent. It usually resulted in her only ending up being utterly annoying, but he suspected that that would not be the case with Sode no Shirayuki. No, there would be pain with her.

"Fine," he shrugged. May as well. "When I met Rukia for the first time-"

"Yesterday?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her interruption. "No." He paused, thinking, then raised his hand up to scratch the back of his head in frustration. "Well yes...and no."

Now her expression read 'I'm sure I'm just wasting my time'. Amazing what a person could convey with just their eyes.

"Explain."

"I'm trying," Ichigo growled.

Thankfully she didn't interrupt again as he began relating his memories. Again, he left out any mention of Aizen by name, and focused mainly on Rukia and her execution. The double memories started showing themselves again, but again he brushed over a lot of it and decided to focus on those later...if at all.

By the time he got to Bankai training, the Zanpaktou's face no longer looked upset, but had moved to expressionless, except for maybe slightly widened eyes.

When he reached the end of his fight with Byakuya, he paused, looking down at the blue, metal-like material on the side of his sky scrapers. He could end the story here, like he had with Ukitake, or he could tell her about the traitor captains. Even if he left that out, what about his training with the visored? She'd probably want to know how he got strong enough to fight an Espada once he managed to get across how dire the situation really was.

"You're not finished yet," she stated, causing Ichigo to look up at her pale face. "I suspect you haven't even scratched the surface, but do you realize how utterly impossible the story you told me just now is?"

Ichigo repressed a sigh, slouching back onto his hands. Yes, he did have an idea, a slight one in any case. He knew he shouldn't have been able to do all of those things, let alone in the time frame he'd done it in. But it had happened, and to him, most of the 'growth' seemed natural, if hard earned. Everything else, though, had always seemed difficult to swallow even to him. He'd struggled to keep up with the intrigue of the Soul Society, Aizen, the Visored and Urahara, and felt like he had only barely managed (or failed miserably). Trying to explain it all to someone else while leaving so much out really made it seem like some sort of fairy-tale or cheap manga sold on the bargain tables.

"I know it's hard," he said, looking down and to the side. "Sometimes I think it's freaking impossible. But," he looked back up, meeting her cold, blue eyes without flinching, "It's all true."

She continued to stare blankly at him. "So I assume you're from the future."

It was his turn to be surprised. He hadn't really explained that yet. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"You couldn't have made all of that up and been so accurate. So, unless you are some sort of seer, they had to be actual events you yourself have lived through. From the point of view you described and your grasp on the situation, the second conclusion makes the most sense."

"Oh." Yes, he sounded _so _intelligent at the moment. There was always that third option, though. "Well, actually," he paused, wondering if he should voice this, then decided he might as well. "I think all of this might be in an illusion."

She turned to him, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly. "An illusion?"

"Yeah," he shook his head. "A really strong illusion that I have to break somehow."

He looked up at her expectantly, but she simply shook her head. "I have few concepts of illusion, being a direct attack, Kido-based Zanpaktou. I'm afraid I cannot help you."

Ichigo shrugged. "If it is an illusion, you'd be part of it, so I didn't really expect much."

For the first time, as she stood over him in stark contrast against the blue sky, she seemed somewhat impressed. "A wise decision, although I would then wonder why you told me in the first place."

"Figured there wasn't any harm." He did feel like he needed to tell someone, and he doubted anyone else would listen to him after his story and not try to lock him up in a padded room.

She nodded and then looked up at the buildings above them. "Such a strange world," she muttered. After a few moments, she turned to face him. "I'm assuming you want your own powers back. I would like to be with my wielder once again. As such, I shall look for your powers if you promise to continue your story when I see you again."

"When you see me again?"

She glanced away from him, at the blue sky sailing "over" the skyscrapers. "It seems your body has regenerated faster than I thought. You will be awakening soon."

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Ichigo said as he stood up.

"Don't scowl at me." The carrot top looked up at the sword spirit. "I don't like it."

"Yeah?" he responded. "Well I always scowl, so get used to it."

Her head whipped around, and she glared at him furiously.

"Ungrateful brat," she hissed.

"Yeah, whatever," Ichigo waved a hand over his shoulder as he walked away. "See you 'round."

Once he'd left, Sode no Shirayuki rolled her eyes. This promised to be far more trouble than she felt it would be worth.

xXx

Ichigo normally woke up in one of three ways: Most often, he found himself jerked harshly into reality because something (like his father) smashed into his face or chest. Sometimes, he found himself suddenly and abruptly awake because of a memory, a nightmare or (especially recently) a trip back in time. The third way did not happen often. Every now and then he would drift into consciousness slowly and peacefully, and truthfully, he hated this one the most. It always came after something serious that almost killed him. Like training with Urahara, or a fight with Renji, Kenpachi or Grimmjow.

So when he opened his eyes slowly and found the ceiling of his room, it took a minute to remember everything. Then, he jerked upright as his breath caught in his lungs. Rukia! She'd been hurt and had given him his powers, just like the first time. He glanced over at the clock. 18:51. How long had he been out?!

Not wasting any more time, he hopped out of bed and ran to the door, throwing it open and rushing into the hall, and directly into his father.

"Oh good, you're awake," he said as he swung a fist at Ichigo's nose. He ducked easily and pinned his father against the wall (probably a little more painfully than was actually necessary).

"What happened?" he asked, flexing his arm muscle against his father's throat just to try and keep him there while his other hand held one Isshin's arms behind his back. "How'd I get back here?"

"Excellent...reflexes my son! I have no more to teach you!" For a moment, Ichigo paused as he sarcastically thought 'bull' but decided against saying anything for now.

"Answer the question," he growled.

"Nii-san?" he heard a soft voice from the direction of the stairs, and looked over to see Yuzu standing there, staring at him with a cocked head and a very confused expression. "Why are you fighting with Dad in your underwear?"

_In my...what?! _ Ichigo leapt back, looking down to see that he had indeed rushed out of his room in such a hurry that he hadn't realized he wasn't wearing more than his boxers. With a glare and as much dignity as he could muster, he stood straight, consequently letting his father go, and turned to walk back into his room. Fortunately it was just family. If Rukia or Orihime (or any of his friends, really) had been there...

Fighting the blush that heated up his cheeks, he grunted as he closed the door. Only a minute later, he came walking back out in jeans and a t-shirt. This time, he ducked his father's "greeting" completely and strode over to his sister.

"Is dinner ready?"

She grinned up at him and nodded before turning and starting down the stairs, Ichigo following right behind her. "Yes! After your friend brought you home and said you'd collapsed, I decided to make your favorite! Karashi Mentaiko!"

"Wait, my friend?" Ichigo asked, confused.

"Your new friend," Karin responded boredly from her chair at the table where she'd obviously overheard their conversation. "Girl just a little taller than me. Short hair, black. Don't know how someone that small could have carried you home."

"She said you never went to school because you collapsed," Yuzu spoke up again, now looking extremely worried. "And that you were laying out in the sun all day! Are you feeling alright, Ichigo?"

"I told old Goat Beard that we should take you to a real hospital, but he wouldn't listen, as usual," Karin intoned monotonously.

Isshin chose that moment to insert himself into the conversation by shooting past Ichigo, then turning to face and point at him dramatically. "My son is made of tougher material than that! He could be bleeding and dying and would laugh it off with a wave of his-"

Karin interrupted his miniature monologue with a fist to his face, probably noticing Ichigo's slight wince at the truth in his father's words. "Will you stop it?!" she growled.

"Oh, Masaki!" Isshin cried out, rubbing the spot on his cheek where he'd been hit as he wandered over to the giant poster. "Our daughters are growing up to be so violent! I have failed as a father to raise them up to be like you, my dear angel!"

Ichigo shot his father an annoyed glare. He'd basically told his daughters, in his own way, that Ichigo was fine. Probably because he at least had a suspicion as to what was really going on with Rukia. That didn't mean he had to say it like that, though.

"I'm fine, Yuzu, Karin" he confirmed. "Sorry to have worried you."

"Yeah, whatever," Karin turned around, expression returning to the boredom she normally held. "Just don't do it again."

Ichigo regarded the back of his sister's head with a small smile. "Yeah."

xXx

Some arcs are going to take several chapters, while others take one or less. Just FYI

Oh, and I'm looking for a beta reader if anyone's interested.


	4. R3: Forewarned Does Not Mean Forearmed

Note: "Teme" means "you". I recently found this out, and it just means something similar to "you jerk" when said with a lot of vehemence. Please keep that in mind when reading this chapter, thanks! :D

Now that Ichigo had Rukia's powers, an annoyingly familiar problem reared its ugly head: he had no idea where to go to look for her. It concerned him because he knew what it was like to have powers and then have to learn to live without them. Besides, he wanted to make sure she stayed safe. He toyed with the idea of going over to Urahara's, but concluded that he still wasn't ready to face that man just yet. Half of his mind kept asking why because if anyone could help it would be Hat 'n Clogs. The other half only seemed to be able to remember Urahara, Yourichi and his father face down on the rubble after Aizen's attack. He had to admit, that had shaken his faith in the other man. Before, it had seemed like nothing could touch the ex-captain. Now...

It wasn't that he didn't trust Urahara, he just didn't feel all that safe there anymore. Well, as safe.

Besides, it seemed like he had plenty of tries to get it right himself first, even if he had yet to figure out why. Also, when he actually found Rukia, it would only be a matter of time before he met the shopkeeper if it worked out anything like last time.

He spent the rest of that night (after a rather awkward dinner and a fast shower) walking around wishing he could get out of his body and hoping he'd run into Rukia. Thanks to the little 'nap' he'd had before dinner, it was almost three in the morning before he felt tired enough to fall asleep. He didn't talk to Sode no Shirayuki again that night, and only vaguely remembered dreams of him talking to someone who looked and felt a little like Aizen riatsu wise, but who seemed completely different (inherently more innocent) at the same time.

The next morning, despite the fact that he hadn't really used his body the previous day, he woke up tired and sore. It took more effort than usual to get up and start his morning routine. The morning passed in a daze. He'd already walked half way to school by the time he realized that he should probably actually look for Rukia again. Then he remembered that he'd actually found Rukia the first time at school and decided to at least check it out.

Surely enough, the teacher announced a new student at the beginning of class and then gestured to the doorway. As his eyes watched the door open, he realized that he almost didn't recognize the girl that strode in. She looked like Rukia and moved like Rukia, but he still had a hard time believing it was the same woman. The Rukia he knew was a serious, determined warrior. This Rukia grinned shyly at the class and curtsied _demurely. _ What about _Rukia_ was ever demure? It had been far too long since he'd seen this act from her for him to be used to it at all.

"This is Kuchiki Rukia," their history teacher gestured to the beaming girl standing in the front of the class. Ichigo couldn't help but stare, still unable to believe it was the same person. "Why don't you tell us something about yourself."

Rukia stood, eyes almost closed as she plastered a supposedly sweet smile on her face. "My name is Kuchiki Rukia. I'm transferring here because of some unforeseeable circumstances. I have one older brother-" Was it just Ichigo, or did her smile falter for just a moment? She continued after an almost unnoticeable pause. "But I'm going to be living on my own for a little while."

Whispers broke throughout the class before the teacher could shush them. Once the vague hissing fell to near silence again, Rukia continued. "I like bunnies and drawing. Oh, and I recommend that no one tries to touch me without my permission. I don't want to send anyone to the hospital." The whispers came back immediately. If anything her smile had widened when she'd said that...

"Uh, thank you Kuchiki-san," the teacher broke in, looking a little uncomfortable herself. "But please refrain from hurting anyone if you can. Why don't you choose an empty seat?"

And of course, one of the empty seats just happened to be beside him. Somehow he suspected she had something to do with that little fact. How did she do it? For a moment he wondered how she couldn't have ended up in the second squad. Weren't they the ones that worked in tangent with the under cover ops or whatever they were called? Rukia had a sneaky streak in her that put what he knew of Soi Fon to shame.

"Hello," she turned her smile on Ichigo as she lowered herself gracefully into the seat beside him. "Let's be friends!" She tipped her head as that grin gained a notch on her face. She'd seriously started to remind him of Gin.

"Uh, yeah," he nodded, unsure of what else to say.

"Oh, Kurosaki-san," the Teacher said. He turned his attention to look up at her. "Since Kuchiki-san doesn't have the textbooks yet, would you mind lending some to her?"

"Oh, yes! Please!" Rukia held out her hand to him, supposedly to receive the books. On her palm, just as he remembered, she'd written in a black marker the words 'If you say anything, I'll kill you.' He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Honestly, did she think he was stupid enough (back then or now) to say anything? It wasn't like anyone would believe him anyway.

Just as he reached for his books, something prickled at the back of his neck. Used to reacting to such feelings, he whipped to look back at Rukia, who had started to glare at him, smile completely absent. Her smile was scary, but he'd forgotten exactly what level of fear her glares induced.

"Um, here," he said, holing out the book almost as if it would protect him. Truthfully, he didn't know exactly what he should be afraid of. He was the one with her powers and sword inside his head. But he of all people knew that even a powerless Rukia was far from helpless. Fairly useless in a battle maybe, but not helpless.

Her glare dropped into a blank state that he couldn't read and reminded him all too much of Byakuya as she took the book from his hand with a nod of her head.

Through the rest of the class, she ignored him completely. After fifteen minutes of glancing warily at her out of the corner of his eye, he realized that she wouldn't do anything in class and didn't seem to want to say anything to him, so he gave up and focused on the Teacher's lecture about one of the more recent eras in Japanese history.

After class ended, his borrowed book thumped down onto his desk. Startled slightly, he turned his scowl up to see Rukia standing menacingly over him, that fake smile back in place.

"Thank you for lending me your book," she said. "May I see you outside for a moment?"

Repressing a sigh, Ichigo simply stood and followed her out. Keigo, Mizurio, Tatsuki and Orihime watched as they left, probably not sure exactly what to think, not that he blamed them. They would be curious, but f he had anything to say about it this time, none of them would ever find out about the Soul Society.

He followed Rukia outside and around the side of the building. Just as he turned the corner, she came at him, full on kick to the head. Without shinigami powers she couldn't begin to hold a pace he couldn't dodge easily, and so he stepped out of the way as she sailed past.

"What was that for?" he turned to her, unable to keep his voice from raising slightly.

"Your reaction to my message, ingrate!" she shot back from the crouch she'd landed in, then stood up suddenly. "You think I'm just some slip of a girl who cannot take care of herself, you chauvenist pig!"

Why was it that Rukia could always find a way under his skin? A vein began to throb on his forehead. "You're wrong!" he growled. "I was thinking, 'Of course I won't tell anyone! How stupid does she think I am?'!"

"Oh?" she relaxed slightly, the smug grin returning to its place. "I don't believe I have enough grasp of the modern language to fully express the depths of your stupidity."

Ichigo felt his teeth grind. "Teme..."

"It's your fault I'm like this! If you'd been smart enough to turn around and run away from that hollow, I wouldn't have been injured and I wouldn't have had to give you all my powers. Now I can't even return to the Soul Society!"

Ichigo deflated marginally, but he still felt his teeth clench. No matter how much he wanted to, even if it was Rukia, he wouldn't hit a girl that much weaker than him. "So let me guess," he said sarcastically, "you want me to do what you'd normally do."

She glanced over her shoulder at him, looking suspicious and annoyed at the same time. "Only until I get my powers back."

He actually remembered his first reaction to her proposal rather well. He'd refused until she'd taken him to see a hollow chasing a boy hungrily. Sometime after that his opinion of her and her job had changed completely. Somewhere around the anniversary of his Mother's death, now that he thought about it.

"You have no right to refuse," she said with a shrug, "seeing as it's your fault I-"

"Fine," he grumbled. "Whatever. We'd better get back to class before the teacher comes in."

He left her blinking after him. "Hey, wait!" she said. "You don't even know what I'm asking-"

Ichigo interrupted again. "You want me to become a shinigami and fight hollows for you."

Rukia stopped short, staring at him in shock and with more than a little fear. "H-how did you know? Come to think of it, you knew that me transferring my powers to you is against Soul Society law...how do you know all this?"

Ichigo looked back at her and saw something he'd hoped he'd never see again: Fear. The last time she'd looked at him with an expression close to that had been just after his hollow had defeated Ulquiorra...and she hadn't even witnessed the fight.

For a moment, he hesitated, wondering if he should tell Rukia everything. He hadn't planned to this time. After all, Aizen had somehow overheard that last conversation despite his precautions, and he _had_ mentioned that he'd been watching Ichigo when they'd fought in the future. Had Aizen heard him when he'd spoken to Rukia, or when he'd spoken to Ukitake? He'd guess the latter, but didn't want to take a chance. But then again, she deserved to know.

After several moments of contemplation, he turned away from her. "I'll explain everything after class."

"Th-this is a little more important than a stupid human school class!" she interrupted.

He shrugged, ignoring her awkward language. "Not to me." With that, he walked around the corner of the building and made his way back to the classroom. He arrived just after the teacher. A few moments later, Rukia joined them as well, introducing herself to the teacher and apologizing for her tardiness. She remained subdued and quiet for the rest of the day, following Ichigo onto the roof with his friends for lunch. Orihime practically dragged her over to their group and tried to include her in their conversations, but Ichigo couldn't help but feel the awkward tension that radiated from her.

He didn't talk to her much until the end of the day when he excused himself, saying he wanted to go home alone. She followed him a short time later.

Despite everything, he was glad he'd had time to really get ready to explain everything to her. He'd contemplated what he should and shouldn't leave out, and in the end figured he'd just explain it all. The worst that could happen would be if Aizen came in and killed him again. If the previous incidents were anything to go by, he doubted it would be permanent...for some reason he still couldn't figure out.

He found a bench outside a store and sat down to wait for her to catch up. It didn't take long.

"So are you going to explain everything now?"

"Yeah," he said, sitting down. "On one condition: you can't tell anyone else. Not your captain, not your brother, no one."

"How do you know all of that?" she burst out. "You're a human! You shouldn't know anything!"

"Yeah, that's what your sword said."

She paused, taken aback. "What?"

He shot her a dry look. "When you transferred your powers over to me, that included one zanpaktou spirit who apparently hates me."

He expected her to freak out again, and had just prepared himself to try and calm her down or ride it through like he normally did. Instead, she let out a relieved breath. "She's okay? I was so worried when I couldn't find her."

"Y-yeah," Ichigo responded dully. "She says she wants to get back to you as soon as possible."

Rukia closed her eyes, a surprisingly gentle expression falling over her features. "I thought she'd be angry at me."

One thing had not changed since Ichigo had met Rukia. He still hated these kinds of serious, sad atmospheres. "Of course she's mad at you," he commented bluntly. She winced, so he decided to soften the blow. "But she knows it's not your fault."

"Did she tell you everything, then?" The shinigami asked, looking slightly relieved.

Ichigo opened his mouth to reply, but paused as her words sank in. Why hadn't he thought of that? She'd basically just given him a very good excuse as to why he knew what he did. He'd been ready to tell her everything, but hadn't really wanted to for fear of being overheard. Now he didn't need to. The last time he had, it didn't work out so well. It would definitely give him time to think in any case. He also didn't like the fact that he seemed to be alright with the idea of Aizen killing him...again. He didn't want to start depending on the fact that he was somehow able to relive these events because he didn't know when the phenomenon would end.

Also, as much as he really did think that Aizen had him under an illusion, he didn't want to risk that it all might be real. There hadn't been any real evidence to support either theory.

He found himself caught between the decision. Tell her or don't? He continued to contemplate while Rukia awaited an answer. He just stood there while he weighed each decision, unable to really lean towards either one.

"Didn't she?" Rukia finally pushed, managing to look worried and annoyed at the same time.

"Yeah," he answered finally. He'd tell her later, when he was sure that Aizen wouldn't appear and kill them both. "Yeah, she did."

He didn't often lie, and he knew he wasn't exactly the best actor ever. He liked being honest because it meant he didn't have to try and keep all of his lies straight in his head. That, and it had always worked out well for him before.

"Are you well?" Rukia asked, catching the fakeness in his smile.

"I'm fine," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head at her abruptness. Where had that question come from?

"Then why did it take so long to answer me?"

Great. How was he supposed to answer that? After a few moments, he opened his mouth. "Why don't you ask your sword when you get her back?" he said, and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Home," he said. "You coming?"

"Me?"

He glanced over at her. "You don't have a place to stay, right?"

"That's none of your concern," she huffed.

He rolled his eyes again. "Just shut up and come on. Think up something to tell my dad." He was not going to have her staying in his closet again.

xXx

It was surprisingly difficult to convince Rukia to just stay at his place. Ironic seeing as she'd sneaked into his house to stay the first time. How long had she been staying there back then? Days? Or had she just camped at Urahara's for those first few nights before he caught her? If that were the case he didn't have to wonder why she'd come to stay with him. He'd heard horror stories about Renji's experiences.

Or maybe she just liked to be difficult.

Either way, getting her to stay at the Kurosaki Clinic was like pulling teeth. With a released Zangetsu. Eventually, Ichigo just had to jump in and say that she had nowhere to go. Then he said something about her house being ruined, and his dad bought it, albeit after some thought. That surprised Ichigo. He'd expected his father to jump on board almost immediately, like he had the first time.

It made Ichigo wonder how much his father had really known the first time compared to now.

"Oh, nii-san!" Yuzu grinned at him once she heard the news. "That's so nice of you! Helping out a classmate like that!"

"Yeah," Karin muttered, "what kind of a favor do you owe her?"

"Karin-chan!" Yuzu gasped. "Nii-san doesn't need a reason!"

Ichigo rolled his eye and spotted Rukia as she watched the twins with a touch of horror and more than a little surprise on her face. After a moment, the human-turned-shinigami decided he didn't want to know what she was thinking.

"She got me home when I collapsed yesterday," Ichigo finally said reluctantly. He didn't like pretending to be weak any more than he liked being weak, but it would give him a decent excuse.

After a moment, Karin nodded and went back to the book she'd been reading before Ichigo and Rukia had shown up while Yuzu thanked Rukia ecstatically. His father looked on, uncharacteristically silent and thoughtful.

After dinner, Ichigo told his family that he was going to bed early and went upstairs. Rukia followed shortly after, excusing herself from dinner and thanking Yuzu politely. He'd waited for her just outside his door, and when she came to the top floor, he walked into his room, gesturing for her to follow with a nod of his head.

"How many orders do you have?" he asked as he turned down his bed. He didn't have Kon yet, so he'd just have to pass off his empty body as being asleep.

Rukia blinked at him for a moment before fumbling for her communicator. "Um, three," she said finally. "One from this morning, so I don't know if we'll be able to find it."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, rounding on her.

"You hadn't agreed to help me then!"

Oh, right. Ichigo almost kicked himself. Honestly, how dense could he get? And since when did he get on himself like that? He sighed. There had to be something of his hollow left inside of him. Thank goodness he didn't still have those raw instincts pushing his actions. But did that still make him part hollow? He suppressed a shudder.

"Let's just do this."

Rukia looked down at him strangely. "Do what?"

"Go find those hollows." What else could he possibly mean? Homework?

"Why are you lying down?" Why did she look suspicious?

Ichigo scowled up at her. "You saw those kids at the park earlier. They thought I was passed out or something. My family will panic if I leave my body here collapsed on the floor."

"Oh," Rukia nodded. "Good thinking, human."

Ichigo's scowl deepened. "I told you my name."

"I forgot it."

"You what?" How could she forget his name?! "Ichigo! As in strawberry! As in '1' and '5'! As in Protector of One!"

A mischievous smile appeared on Rukia's face. "So which one is your name's meaning? I mean, it is an adorable name."

He wanted to yell at her to shut up and get it right, or kick her out and refuse to help her or even see her again. Then he thought back on what his name really did mean. Protector indeed. He couldn't stop his mother from dying, he couldn't stop Rukia from being arrested, he couldn't stop Inoue from being taken. Frankly, he'd never really lived up to his name, and had to go and fight entire civilizations to make up for it.

"Doesn't matter," he said finally. She obviously sensed his change in demeanor, but thankfully didn't comment on it. Sighing, he relaxed and pulled the cover over his shoulder, turning his back to the door. "Let's just get this over with."

As Rukia dragged his soul from his body and marched him downstairs before announcing to his family that she'd be going on a walk (and having to reassure his father several times that she'd be fine and that she could take care of herself), he couldn't help but hope that this time—maybe just this time—he could do it right and finally protect the people close to him.

He'd like that.

xXx

The first incident that he really recalled from the blurs of fighting hollows with Rukia in those first few memories of his life as a Shinigami happened not two days later. Inoue Sora's hollow came for Ichigo, angry and hurt that Inoue Orihime was spending more time thinking about her friends than she was about her brother.

Although Rukia had cut it just as close this time as she had the first time to actually getting him out of his body before the large hand crushed him where he sat (he'd forgotten that he'd had to fix his broken bed after that), he was actually able to dispense of the hollow before he could get to Inoue.

As he sat there in his room with the sword stuck up to the hilt into Sora's mask, he found himself pitying the man. After all, he knew exactly what the guy was going through in almost every aspect. Between the hollow instincts and the obligation of caring for a younger sister, he couldn't help but relate.

"You know," he said softly to the dissolving form, "she never forgot you. And she never will. You'll always be the first person she thinks of."

The body disappeared, and he had no idea if Sora had heard him at all, but it made him feel a little better.

"She?" Rukia asked.

"Inoue Orihime," Ichigo answered. "The girl in our class. That was her brother."

"Really?" Rukia blinked. "Did you know him?"

"I opened the door and let them in when he got hit by a car three years ago. He died here."

"And you were able to kill him quickly. An admirable trait."

Ichigo couldn't help himself. He rounded on her so fast he almost didn't realize he had until he stood glaring down at her. "Don't say that to me again."

Rukia stepped back, surprised. "F-fine," she said, trying to keep her confusion and slight fear at his sudden change in mood hidden.

Her reaction caused Ichigo to deflate slightly. Rukia only ever did that to her brother, and he did not want to be seen as _anything_ like Byakuya. "It's not an admirable trait to callously kill other people. I just know that he'll be better off in the Soul Society. Being hollow is the worst state a soul could possibly be in."

The girl gazed at him, as if seeing him in a new light. "You almost sound like you're talking from experience."

Ichigo couldn't hide a wince. "Yeah right," he managed to get out as he turned back to his body.

"I mean, you almost sound like you've been to the Soul Society."

Her words stopped him in his tracks, and for a few moments he could only stand there as relief washed over him. He's said they'd be better of in the soul society, and that's what she'd meant. Of course she wouldn't mean...the other thing.

He knew he had to face the realization some day, but for now, he'd think about other things. Like getting a good night rest.

"You're right, you know," Rukia said softly. "There isn't a worse fate for a soul."

Ichigo paused. Now it sounded like _she_ was talking from experience. Well, she'd obviously never been a hollow, so maybe someone she knew? But she hadn't even met any of the Visored at this point, and souls didn't turn into hollows once they'd been sent on. He barely resisted dumbly scratching his head at her confusing statement. Before he could open his mouth, though, he heard the thumping of feet racing down the hall and threw himself onto his blue bed-spread just as his father and Yuzu rushed into the room.

"Nii-san! We heard loud noises! Did something break?"

Ichigo stood up nonchalantly. "Yeah, the bed."

"How? Why?" Yuzu asked, kneeling down and examining the broken frame.

Isshin, on the other hand, glanced over at Rukia and then stuck his thumb up, fake tears of joy streaming down is face. "My son is finally growing up!"

Ichigo's punch sent him back out of the door and crashing into the wall behind it, leaving a large dent there. The man groaned and fell to the floor. "It's not like that!" he growled, blushing in spite of himself. Why did he do that whenever girls were involved.

Not that he thought of Rukia as a girl.

Well he did, but...

Suppressing a growl of frustration, he walked out the door. "I'm going for a walk. I'll fix it when I get home."

"I'll come too," Rukia started, probably figuring he was making up an excuse to go on patrol.

"Sorry, but if you don't mind," he said from the doorway, not turning around, "I'd like to be alone for a little while."

"Oh," Rukia paused. "Right."

"Nii-san," Yuzu asked from the floor. "Are you alright?"

He couldn't stand to hear that uncertain note in her voice. Plastering a smile on his face, he turned and grinned down at her. "Yeah."

He left, before anyone else could comment further.

"I knew they were over reacting," Karin muttered from the couch as he walked by. He didn't answer her, nor did he see the concerned look she shot him.

He walked around town for almost forty-five minutes before he eventually reached his semi-vague destination. When he did, he sat there for another quarter of an hour as he stared up at the apartment he'd stopped in front of. The two-story building stood neatly between two similar neighboring structures. It looked old, but clean and well taken care of. The small amount of paint that had peeled off the siding had been sanded down smoothly and although the bushes crowded around the stairs and sidewalks (obviously in need of a trimming), the lack of weeds spoke of how much either the owners or renters took pride in the property.

"Stop being a coward, Ichigo," he muttered and forced himself to move forward. He really didn't want to be here, but the idea of not resolving the situation bothered him more than any discomfort he would face due to this.

Sullenly, he climbed the stairs. He stood in front of the door for several seconds before reaching up and knocking on old wood. Light-hearted footsteps came bounding forward, and the white-washed door opened to reveal a well-developed teenager with a beaming face.

She faltered when she saw who stood there. Did he really make her that uncomfortable? Why? He'd never noticed it before...

"K-kurosaki-kun," she said, surprised. Then, as if someone had turned on a lamp behind her eyes, her face lit up. "Hi!"

"Hi, Inoue," he said, feeling a little of his unease lift at her boisterous attitude.

"Why are you here? Did you come to see Tatsuki? She just left. I do have some leftovers from desert if you want some! Tonight I have...let's see, what did we have?"

His stomach churned at the mere thought. "Um, no thanks. I just dropped by to tell you something." Was that a blush he saw on her cheeks? She seemed a little surprised. Weird.

"O-okay," she said. "What is it?"

Ichigo looked away. "Well, you know I can see ghosts, right?"

She deflated slightly, but a new curiosity crept into her expression. "Tatsuki said you've always said you could see ghosts, and I always believed you could. I thought it would be so amazing if I could see ghosts too! I mean are they all scary? Or do they look cute? Or are they just puffs of weird goo floating in the air?" For every description she had a face and action to go along with it. Yes, Ichigo had missed this Inoue.

"Well, they usually look just like normal people," he said honestly.

"Really?" Okay, now she looked far too excited for Ichigo's comfort. The last thing he needed was for her to start wishing to see ghosts and develop powers again.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Thing is, tonight, I saw your brother."

That quickly, the atmosphere grew so thick he could almost see it. She stared at him with an expression that he couldn't place. He hadn't even seen that face on her when he'd found her in Hueco Mundo.

"You...did?" she asked finally.

"Yeah."

"I-is he okay?"

He pondered his answers for several seconds, and finally decided on one. "Yeah. He'd moved on now. Doesn't need to protect you any more. But..." he paused, scratching his head again. "I think he'd still like it if you talked to him every now and then."

The tears didn't surprise him, even if they did make him uncomfortable.

"I-I can't believe...I never got to tell him to be safe and have a good day when he left."

"I told him that you think of him," Ichigo intervened, trying not to let her heartbroken expression get to him.

She didn't answer for several seconds. When she did, she looked up. The smile she gave him seemed deeper than her other smiles somehow. "Thank you, Kurosaki-kun."

He returned the smile. "You're welcome. I'm going to head home now."

She nodded and he could feel her eyes on him as he thumped down the stairs. That had gone better than he'd expected and he couldn't help but feel glad that he'd come.

xXx

He talked to Sode no Shrayuki later that night for the second time.

When he woke inside his soul and saw her standing there in almost the exact same position as the first time (and with the exact expression), he figured he may as well get it over with.

Mumbling an illegible greeting, he sat up, then looked up at her expectantly.

"I have made some progress with finding your own shinigami powers," she said. "Which poses one of the many questions I have for you that you did not answer before." He wanted to groan. He didn't, but he wanted to. "Why does a human, like yourself, have Shinigami powers?"

He didn't answer for a few moments, contemplating what he really should say to her. Finally he figured,he'd told her the truth so far, so what could it hurt telling her more now? "My father's a Shinigami."

Her arctic eyes narrowed. "How can that be? I have seen him myself. There is no spiritual power around that man."

Ichigo shrugged. "No clue. I just know he is."

"I do not understand how."

"Me neither."

She regarded him. "I see."

"What about them?" he asked, turning his attention back to the azure sky. She cocked her head slightly, the annoyance coming back. "My shinigami powers," he clarified.

Nodding curtly, she turned on the blue sky scraper and began to walk daintily away, gesturing for him to follow her. He easily caught up, walking beside her as she spoke.

"I have had to go through a great deal of information. Most of it I cannot decipher as I do not belong here in your mind, or in this world." Ichigo wasn't sure if he should feel disappointed or relieved at that news. "As I have gone through your soul, I have indeed found the area where your shinigami powers lie dormant, I'm assuming because you're human."

Ichigo didn't comment, so she continued. "You need to know that I can only allow you to gain access to your powers. I cannot awaken them for you." The orange-haired teen nodded. "Good. Now let me see..."

She crouched slightly and jumped, leaping onto the next building. "Over here," she called back to him. Resisting the urge to shrug, he leapt after her graceful form as she moved from building to building. After a few minutes of "Follow The Leader", she stopped and looked down at the sideways skyscraper.

"It's here, in this general area. I will have to continue to search the buildings to make any more progress though."

Ichigo couldn't help but feel surprised. "It is?"

Sode no Shrayuki raised an eyebrow in his direction. "You did not expect this?"

"Well no," he responded. "My Zanpaktou told me these sky scrapers represent my state of mind: my hope." Ugh, it sounded so much cheesier when he said it himself.

The woman shook her head, white hair following in a tiny bounce at her small, dainty movements. "Becoming a shinigami requires a certain state of mind, does it not? Besides, the structures or lack thereof in mental landscapes can mean many and often multiple things. Which brings me to my next question."

"Wait," Ichigo cut in. "What about my powers?"

"I have not found them yet," she responded. "I just know they reside in one of the buildings here. It will take me some time to discover them as they are almost impossible to find if they are not active."

Before Ichigo could say anything else, she bounded away. Letting out a low growl of frustration, he followed. She stopped towards the "bottom" (as in closer to the street) of the building she'd gestured to, and waited for him to catch up. He did so not moments later, taking care to not step on her train. Girls could get scary when it came to clothing.

"Kurosaki-san," she said politely, then nodded at a fairly short, but very wide, white building that jutted up from the ground to their left. It seemed to weave in and out of the other buildings like a white stain that had been spilled in the area; never quite touching the other buildings, but seeming to be apart of them anyways. "This section puzzles me. I cannot enter it myself, and when I attempted, I—well, it was not pleasant. Do you know what this is?"

Ichigo stared at the squat building for several moments, trying to keep his breathing calm. Yes, yes he did. But should he tell her that? _Could _he tell her that?

"No," he finally said and forced himself to shrug. "No clue."

She knew he was lying. He knew she knew, but he only prayed as she glared at him that she wouldn't call his bluff.

"Can you enter it yourself, then?" she asked, her tone once again frigid.

"Dunno."

"I would like to see you try." He shot an angry gaze in her direction at the poorly veiled threat. What did she really think she could do? Not find his shinigami powers? Well, he guessed he could see her pull something like that if she were anything like Rukia. It would be a detriment to all of them in the future if she did so, but if it proved her point...

"I've gotta go get some real sleep," he muttered and turned away.

Thankfully, she didn't follow him, although he could feel the burn of her glare staring into the back of his neck until he was out of her sight.


	5. Getting somewhere

A few days later, Chad brought his cursed parakeet to school.

Ichigo confronted him just before everyone went inside from lunch, told him he could see a ghost haunting the parakeet and that he knew how to send the ghost on. It took a lot of convincing to get Chad to hand the parakeet over for even a few minutes, which almost brought a blaring grin to Ichigo's face. His best friend never changed.

So he got out of his body (after explaining that he was going to do some meditation) and sent the little boy on with a promise that he'd see his mother again, hoping it would eventually be true. Moments later, the hollow of the murderer attacked and Ichigo found that he could defeat the monster with relative ease. He'd recalled that it had taken them quite a while to get this one subdued the first time around.

"You're doing well," Rukia commented. Chad had just been confused beyond belief and looked at the scraped up rooftop with a mixture of wonder and fear.

"Really bad ghost?" he asked Ichigo as the substitute Shinigami "woke up".

"Uh, something like that," he'd responded, and that had been that.

Not long after that, Rukia brought Kon to school. Of course, she didn't realize it was Kon, but Ichigo knew the case with the duck's head. Why the heck had Urahara put a mod-soul into a soul candy case anyway? Or maybe it hadn't been Urahara? Somehow Ichigo doubted it. No, it was almost like he'd wanted Ichigo to get attached to the mod-soul.

Ichigo snorted at his own thoughts. It wasn't like he would put that past Urahara...unless Aizen had something to do with that too? Or was he just getting paranoid?

"What was that for?" Rukia asked, probably referring to the snort and glaring as she tossed the dispenser at him.

"Nothing," the carrot-top muttered, pretending to examine the tube.

"I couldn't choose the design because it's a supply from my superiors. Of course I wanted the most popular one, the bunny!"

Ichigo smiled. "Yeah, you would."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rukia bellowed, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

"You like rabbits, right?" Ichigo asked with a shrug, pretending not to notice. Did she get embarrassed the first time? He remembered her kicking him down, but then she did that fairly often, and he couldn't remember much else.

Rukia blinked, looking rather surprised. "Y-yeah," she responded after a moment. "Anyway, try it out. You'll see what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo muttered, popping the pill into his mouth by pressing on the duck's head, and he almost immediately felt the surreal sensation of being ejected from his body. Moments later, he found himself staring at his slumped over form as it began to move.

"See, you came out and no one will notice because the temporary soul has already entered your body!" She pointed (a little too dramatically in Ichigo's opinion) at his body as it turned around and gave a jerky wave.

"Nice to meet you!" Ichigo's body said in an overly-nice, mechanical voice. "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, and my favorite phrase is, 'Early to bed, Early to rise.'"

Oh gosh, had Kon really been that annoying when he'd first taken over Ichigo's body, or was that just him trying to placate Rukia and make her believe he really was some sort of temporary soul.

"Why did you ever think this would work?" Ichigo asked, half to himself, half to Rukia.

Just then, her phone beeped. "It's an order. Perfect. Let's leave it to him and get over there."

"Sure," Ichigo muttered. "Just a minute."

"Leave it to me, Master!" Kon said as brightly as ever as the substitute shinigami approached him.

Ichigo leaned in close to him and grabbed his shirt and yanked. Kon's eyes widened in surprise.

"Stop it," he said, his voice low enough that Rukia wouldn't be able to make out what he said. "Stop acting stupid like that. I know you're a mod-soul without a name so here are the rules." Kon's eyes widened from surprise to a fearful shock and Ichigo watched his own face drain of color. "Any girls from my class or school, including the teachers, are _off limits._ If you go jumping around using your abilities, then make sure that no one can see you. Get it?"

Face still pale and fearful, Kon nodded slowly.

"Good. Later, Kon."

"Kon?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo shrugged. "Calling him 'Ichigo' is just weird and calling him 'temporary soul' is stupid, so I just named him Kon."

"Why Kon?"

The teenager shrugged again and didn't say anything. Frowning at his lack of response, she glanced back over her shoulder at the soul that stared after them from Ichigo's body. "He looks terrified! What did you do to him!" She stuck her leg out to trip him or kick him. He could have avoided it, but decided not to. It would be better for her to get her frustration (or whatever the heck it was girls had that made them go ballistic) out instead of get even more upset when she couldn't even touch him.

"Hey," he grumbled from the ground and began to pick himself up. "I told him not to hit on the girls in my class."

The dark-haired girl frowned. "You didn't have to waste time telling him that. 108 scientists calculated an 'ideal' personality for each temporary soul. He won't go doing that."

"Wanna bet?" Ichigo muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Rukia glared at him.

"Whatever," the substitute shinigami said, a little louder. "Let's go."

He took off, leaving Rukia behind him. "O-oi!" she yelped angrily and started after him.

xXx

"K-kon?" the modified soul stuttered as he watched the pair vanish from sight. The mod-soul could only watch the couple in shock and horror, wondering how he'd been found out so early. He thought he'd had the perfect disguise as a temporary soul, so how did that kid know? And this didn't seem like a gegai either. He moved around experimentally, confirming that this was indeed a real human body.

"What is going on?!"

Normally he would have stretched out and gone his merry way, but if the Shinigami were on to him than they'd either decided to put him back into action (after killing all of his brothers and sisters, yeah right!), or...well, he couldn't think what else could have happened.

So he came to the conclusion that had no other choice but to run. Sadly, he would have to keep a low profile, just in case he got caught. He'd need every advantage he could to elude their tracking system.

Yes, he'd just have to get out while he was ahead. Once he got away, then he could start showing off again. A shame he couldn't do so now, but his freedom (and his life) meant just a little more to him than recognition.

Decision made, he turned and ran past the teacher who came around the corner, bokken in hand, and completely ignored the older man as he accused the mod-soul of being a delinquent before he started yelling at 'Kon' (he didn't much care for the name) for running off so rudely.

The mod soul had left the man behind before he'd finished the sentence.

xXx

Like most battles he'd been through lately, this one went very quickly—much faster than the first timei around in any case. Then again, the first time around he'd been worried about the supposed 'temporary soul' in his body. While he had similar thoughts now, it didn't affect him nearly as much, probably due to his experience and the fact that he _knew_ Kon. Still, he wanted to get back before something really bad happened. After all, the last time he'd been through this they'd had to stop Tatsuki from tearing his body apart (not that she could have kept up with a mod-soul, but still).

He expected something similar this time. So when he got to class and everything seemed completely undisturbed, he had to do a double take.

"Where's my body?" he asked.

"Let me see," Rukia muttered to him as she walked past, trying not to look like she talking to anyone.

"Inoue-san!" she called out, her face breaking into a radiant smile. Inoue, who ha d been chewing on an entire loaf of bread, looked over and grinned, as did the other girls she was with.

"Kuchiki-san!" she grinned. "Would you like some bread?"

Rukia eyed the large, brown loaf with more than a little curiosity, but shook her head. "No, I don't have time. I was wondering if you'd seen Kurosaki-san."

"Oh!" Inoue's smile became even brighter. "No, I haven't, but why do you want to know? Are you helping him with homework?"

"Yes, I am." Ichigo marveled for a moment that Rukia hadn't so much as missed a beat. "So has anyone seen him?"

"Not since he left earlier," Tatsuki muttered, waving a hand towards the door. "Just after you left."

"I see," Rukia said, her face falling for a moment. Then her smile returned as bright and fake as ever.  
"Well, I guess I'll have to go look for him, then. Later!"

Ichigo followed her in to the hall as she walked quickly over the tiled floor, easily avoiding the random students staggered throughout the hallways.

"So where is he?" Ichigo asked.

"How should I know?"

"You're the one that put him in my body!"

"It's not a him," she said calmly. "It has no gender. It's just the basics of a manufactured soul with simple instructions and programming. That's why we call them 'Temporary Souls'. They're used to eject souls of the dead who are still clinging to their old body."

"So what would a soul that has advanced programming be?" he asked, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. He knew the answer...or he thought he did.

"Well, there are several types," she answered vaguely.

"Really?" Ichigo asked, surprised. He figured the only other souls would be mod-souls. Maybe he should look into that a little more. What else had the Soul Society done regarding creations like Kon? "Well, could it be one of those other types?"

Rukia looked to the side for a moment, never slowing her brisk pace as she came out the front doors. "Well, it is malfunctioning if it wasn't in class," she said. "It should have kept strict adherence to your schedule, and it knew that."

"So it is one of those other souls."

"No," Rukia shrugged. "It's probably just a glitch that the science department will have to work out."

Ichigo watched the back of her head for a moment as she started to run towards the school gates. He may have his differences with Kon, but he would not let those freaks in the 12th squad get their hands on him if he could help it.

Silently, he ran after Rukia, figuring they'd have to start looking somewhere. Had his threat really scared Kon off?

They'd been searching for almost half an hour when the order for the next hollow extermination came in. And, just like in his previous life, Ichigo found himself more than a little relieved when he saw Kon fighting it. Then he felt a twinge of annoyance when he realized that the mod-soul had already bloodied-up his body's shoulder.

Fabulous.

Not that Ichigo hadn't gone through worse, but still. He came up just as the hollow was saying something:

"...Nterfering with my meal, running around, I don't know who you are, but a weakling like you shouldn't get involved!"

Ichigo took out his sword and cut the tentacles racing towards Kon.

"Wha-," Kon muttered over the hollow's screams. "You...why...?"

Ichigo turned around, glaring. "You were going to run away, weren't you."

Kon gulped, and didn't answer.

That was all the answer Ichigo needed. He growled but spoke as kindly as he could. "Look, I'm not officially part of the Soul Society, and I won't turn you into them, okay? I just need someone to look after my body and take care of my sisters in case something happens, okay?"

It was the strangest thing to watch his own eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh, and one more thing," Ichigo grumbled, ignoring the vein throbbing in his forehead. "_If you're gonna get hurt fighting trash like this, then don't butt in!_" As he yelled at Kon, he swung his sword behind him, cutting into the hollow that had started to approach when he'd turned his back. It screamed in pain again, but both of them ignored it.

"Wha—What are you talking about?!" Kon yelled right back. "I'm fighting because you took so long to arrive! If I hadn't fought than those bratty kids would have-"

"_I'll eat you both!_" the hollow screamed, suddenly interrupting and lunging towards them.

"SHUT UP!" they yelled simultaneously, Ichigo cutting the mask in two while Kon kicked at it, stopping it's forward momentum. It fell backwards, just beginning to disintegrate, but Kon's eyes suddenly widened, and that quickly he'd rushed behind the ghost, jumping up and kicking it away from where it would have landed (and consequently the nest of ants that would have been crushed). As a result, he launched his body over the railing in an awkward position even he couldn't gain control of, no matter how enhanced the body was now.

Ichigo rushed forward, grabbing his arm before he fell.

"You and your no-kill policy," he muttered, pulling the mod-soul up and over the railing.

"H-how did you know?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I'll tell you later."

"Later?" Once again, he had the strange sensation of seeing an expression on his own face without feeling it himself. Kon blinked up at him in confusion.

"You gonna stick around?" Ichigo asked.

Kon eyed him warily. "You won't turn me into the Soul Society?" Ichigo shook his head. "And you won't kill me?"

"I don't even know how to kill a mod-soul."

"I...guess I can stick around, then," Kon muttered.

"Oh, but we can't allow that," a new, sing-song voice interrupted. For the first time since the repeats had started happening, Ichigo found himself whirling around to face Urahara Kisuke. "Here we found you and you're all roughed up. That makes all the equipment we brought totally useless!" Before Kon could move, he'd plunged his cane through Ichigo's body's head. A little, sea green pill bounced on the tiled, weather worn roof-top, where the green-clad man scooped it up.

"Well," he said cheerfully, "Mission complete. Let's go home, guys."

Jinta began to complain loudly, but Ichigo cut him off.

"Are you really going to just dispose of him?"

Urahara turned a skeptical eye on him. "Yes. Why?"

"What's so wrong with me keeping him?"

"It's wrong, because I paid for it," Rukia said, coming up behind Urahara. "So it is a mod-soul after all," she sighed. "I didn't know I was paying for that."

"Kuchiki-san," Hat n' clogs exclaimed, "Don't take that!"

"Why not?" Rukia asked. "I didn't know your store took back items sold to a customer without compensation."

"Oh, well then I'll pay-"

"No need," the Shinigami interrupted as she tossed the pill and caught it over and over again casually. For a moment, she almost reminded Ichigo of some Yakuza boss. "I'm satisfied with the product. Besides, you guys are working outside Soul Society law anyway."

Urahara's face became rather serious as he addressed Rukia. "We're not responsible then? If trouble comes, we'll play dumb."

"Don't worry," Rukia snorted. "I'm getting used to trouble lately." She turned and walked towards the fire escape, plopping the little pill in Ichigo's hand as she passed by.

"Thanks," he muttered, smiling slightly.

"There's no need for you to do that," she said. "I've already been thanked."

"Yeah," Ichigo said softly, and walked over to his body.

He followed Rukia down the stairs, keeping an eye on the others the whole time. He knew Urahara knew Ichigo had been watching him, judging from the intrigued look he shot Ichigo before the teenager disappeared over the side of the three-story building. He'd probably get something out of that and would end up thinking Ichigo was on Aizen's side or something stupid like that. The man was paranoid. Not that Ichigo blamed him, but still.

"So, Sode no Shirayuki told you about mod-souls too?" Rukia asked on their walk home.

"Something like that," Ichigo responded vaguely. He knew Rukia had gotten suspicious, and wasn't sure if he really cared. He'd been meaning to tell her everything anyway.

It wasn't difficult to convince her to let him try to put Kon into the little lion they found on the side of the road, and that was that. Although, Kon did seem far more subdued around Ichigo than he remembered the stuffed-animal ever being in his previous experience.

Ichigo realized what day it was later that night. Just two more nights until...

And the Grand Fisher would attack on that day.

For the first time in his life, he found himself actually looking forward to the anniversary of his mother's death.

xXx

He'd told Rukia that he'd be on call and that he wouldn't neglect his Shinigami duties, hoping it would throw her off and she'd go to school. It didn't. Instead, she ended up tagging along on their little outing, annoying Ichigo to no extent as she commented on how lazy Ichigo was being for making his father carry everything. Not that the teenager hadn't offered to help. His father had insisted on lugging everything alone and being the "man" of the family...until he heard Rukia's comment, at which point he dumped it all on Ichigo...who hadn't even remembered taking all that junk first time. He blamed Rukia for it.

"Hey, old man! You expect me to carry all of this?!" he called after them, the familiar feeling of annoyance stabbing at him as he watched every one else head off. With a vein throbbing on his forehead, he began trudging up the hill after them. It took him a moment before he realized that for just those few moments, everything had been normal again. He hadn't been a Substitute Shinigami sent back in time, or the kid who everyone depended on to save the world.

He'd just been Ichigo.

It had felt good. Going back to that kind of a life would probably end up boring him to no end after a while, but he was glad that his connection with that kind of stability hadn't dissolved completely.

"Ichigo..." He heard Rukia approach before she really came into view. Probably slipped away from the Karin and Yuzu without them even noticing. "Your mother...how did she die?"

He almost cringed at her bluntness, but it was an old wound, one he'd gotten used to when someone trampled on it. Besides, he'd been expecting this.

"She was killed."

The girl's eyes widened in surprise. "Killed?! By whom?!"

A sad smile touched Ichigo's lips as he remembered. "At first I thought it was my fault. I thought that it was because I saw the spirit. At the time I couldn't differentiate between spirits and people, so when I saw this girl standing on the edge of the flooded river, I had to try and save her. I don't remember a lot of what happened next, but when I woke up, my mom was laying on top of me, protecting me from something. She was already dead."

Rukia gasped, but in the true Kuchiki style, she tried to maintain composure and didn't offer any words of condolences. Again that haunted look came to her own expression as she looked away.

"I know it wasn't my fault, now," Ichigo continued, his voice hardening. "But I will make her killer pay."

"Could her killer have been a hollow?" the dark-haired woman asked, whipping around to face him again.

Ichigo paused for a moment, wondering what he could say to her that wouldn't be an outright lie. "It might have been."

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

The orange-haired boy shook his head. "I told you I don't remember much, but there was a feeling there..."

"Then you...you have my most sincere condolences," she said. "And if it's still alive-"

"Who did you lose?" He cut in, not wanting the conversation to go that way.

Again, Rukia looked startled. "Lose?"

Ichigo fixed a solid glare on her. "I see you space out sometimes, and you always look sad..." Ugh, did that really sound as sappy to everyone else as it did to him? _Note to self_, he thought dryly, _stick to the 'no heartwarming stories' policy._

Rukia watched him for several seconds, subdued. "Sode no Shirayuki hasn't told you?"

The other shrugged. "Didn't ask her. It's your story."

She smiled sadly. "Thank you," she said, her voice soft and sincere. "I...he was someone...I greatly admired. He..." she paused again, glancing over at Ichigo, scrutinizing him for a moment. "He looked a lot like you. A hollow overtook his body, and I had to kill him because of it." She snorted. "The hollow wanted to absorb shinigami powers or something like that. I don't really know. All I do know is that he took away one of my precious people."

She looked over at Ichigo to see a very pale man standing there. He couldn't help but blanch at her words. He'd never really wanted to hollowify in front of her, and now he was more than a little thankful he'd been so desperate to keep his hollow secret...even if it hadn't worked. If his hollow had taken over while she'd been watching, how would she react? Would she try to kill him too? Well, he doubted that after she'd smacked some sense into him just after Yammi and Ulquiorra showed up to fight, but before then? Or even after they'd gone to Hueco Mundo, would she have been able to just brush it off?

Once again, he realized how grateful he was that he didn't have to worry about that this time around.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Once they reached her memorial stone, He dumped most of the stuff (lawn chairs, several bags of incense and were those whistles?) off to the side, making sure they didn't fall onto anyone else's graves either. Then he turned and verified his sisters were still there. Last time they'd visited, he'd been upset and blaming himself for his mother's death (like normal), and they'd all wandered off on their own. This time, he'd stick around through his father's antics and he'd make sure Yuzu and Karin didn't get hurt.

When they started meandering away—so as to leave the others alone to give their respects in private and also to get away from Isshin's constant obnoxious comments and actions—Ichigo watched them for several seconds before standing up. His father, apparently getting a hint Ichigo didn't mean to send, made himself scarce in the opposite direction rather quickly. Rukia had vanished over an hour ago, so he now stood beside his mother's marker alone.

A little surprised, Ichigo looked down at the stone.

"Hey," he heard himself say quietly, "I know it's not my fault now. Knowing that I blamed myself probably hurt you, so I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you, but I can avenge you now. I know it's not as good, but it's the best I can do right now. That, and protect Yuzu and Karin." He paused, unable to think of anything else to say. Then, after a few moments, he clapped his hands together twice and bowed his head.

Then, without another word, he turned and dashed after his sisters. A nervous, but excited feeling had started a lump in his stomach, and it only got worse as he anticipated the Grand Fisher's attack. He hadn't gone more than twelve yards when he realized that he (once again) couldn't get out of his body without Rukia there. Seriously, he needed to permanently borrow that glove, or get something like Urahara's cane.

With a worried glance after the twins, he turned and started off towards where he'd seen Rukia vanish before.

It took him several minutes to locate her. "Oi," he said, jogging up to the ledge she'd sat down on that overlooked a large chunk of the memorial land. She turned from gazing up at the clouds that now almost completely obscured the sky, and watched him approach. "I need Kon."

She blinked. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Kon, the mod soul in the lion's body you have stuffed in your backpack."

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "You knew?"

Ichigo shrugged. "It wasn't that hard to figure out."

"Why do you need him?"

"Because there's going to be a hollow attack."

She snorted. "If there were, I would have gotten the order."

He blinked at her unexpected answer, having expected her to simply hand Kon over. She usually liked to play it safe when it came to things like that anyway. "Huh?" he managed to voice.

"Spend time with your family," she said softly, looking back up at the sky, so different from the clear, sunny morning. "It's an important day for you."

He appreciated her thoughtfulness, he really did, but he also really did not have the time at the moment. "Look, a hollow is going to attack here! Soon! I need to make sure my family stays safe."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Look, Ichigo-" A sudden whistling in the distance cut her off. "Oh, time to go."

"Wait," he started, but she shook her head.

"Until I get an order or I can feel it for myself, than no." Not even looking back at him, she began to walk towards the stairs leading down. Ichigo watched her for several seconds, pondering whether he should just take the backpack by force or if he should find a way to sneak either Kon or the glove out of her backpack.

He decided he'd try the latter first and began jogging to catch up, but she froze before he got there.

"Hollow?" he heard her say. "But that's impossible..." A loud beeping came from her phone. Disbelieving, she took her phone out and looked at it. "An...order?" The look she shot him bordered on incredulous, amazed and utterly confused. Add a touch of fear in there too. He didn't like it. "How did you know?"

"I just did," he snapped. "Can you get me out now?!"

Nodding, she fumbled in her backpack and drew out Kon.

"Nee-san!" he said happily. "It's hard to breathe in there so-"

"Kon," she said, "we need you to look after Ichigo's body."

"Huh?" he asked.

"Hollow," she said.

"Oh. Um...couldn't you just...I mean, it's annoying to be pulled out like that, not to mention being shoved into someone else's body and..." he glanced uneasily over at Ichigo. Okay, that was it. Either Kon knew something Ichigo didn't know he knew, or something Ichigo had done frightened him into acting completely different.

After this, he and Ichigo were going to have a long talk.

"This is important," the teenager said, probably a little more harshly than he'd wanted to. Kon eyed him for a moment before opening his mouth wide.

"You owe me," he said (although it sounded more like 'ooo oh eee').

That sounded like the old Kon. "Yeah," Ichigo responded, his voice calming down slightly as he reached in and felt around for the soul candy. Seconds later, he left Rukia and Kon behind, streaming towards the area he knew his sisters were in. As soon as he was out of sight, he used shunpo.

He came to the scene just as Karin screamed at Yuzu to run. She didn't listen, of course, but it didn't matter. He'd slashed through the foot that the hollow had used to hold Karin down, and seconds later had both of his little sisters under his arms.

Yuzu looked around, eyes wide. "W-what's going on?! Why are we flying? Karin-chan?!"

Her sister, however, simply looked up at Ichigo in wonder. "I-ichi-nii?"

The light-haired twin's eyes widened. "W-where?"

Karin's face paled and she looked over at Yuzu. "You mean, you can't see him?!"

"I'm right here, Karin," Ichigo muttered. "I'll explain later. For now, get Yuzu away from here, okay?" He set them down away from the raging hollow.

"H-hai," Karin said.

"Wait! Does that mean Ichigo's dead?!" Yuzu continued to freak out. "What's happening, Karin-chan?!"

"I don't know," the dark-haired twin managed to get out. "But we've got to get out of here, Yuzu. Now!"

"But...Karin-chan?!" Yuzu protested as her sister began to pull her away from the fight she couldn't see.

Ichigo listened as they left, facing the King Fisher with a determined glare, and thankful that Karin had enough sense to listen.

"A Shinigami," it hissed.

"Grand Fisher," Ichigo said, his voice dangerously quiet.

"Oh ho," it said, pain evidently forgotten. "You know me?"

"Of course I know you," Ichigo's hand tightened around the blade in his hand. "You killed my mother six years ago."

The child that stood at the thing's lure contemplated him for a moment. "Six years ago? I can't remember that far back. So you've met me before?"

"I already told you," the substitute shinigami felt his patience waning.

"And you survived. You are a lucky guy," the lure said as its skin melted away and it flew into the air, only to dangle and swing back and forth in front of the hollow, as if to taunt the boy before him. Ichigo didn't give in. "That luck has run out, boy. I wonder if I can fit you and those girls you saved all in my stomach."

Ichigo looked up, a slightly mad gleam in his eye. "If you touch them," he growled, "I won't show any mercy!"

With that, he launched himself at the Grand Fisher. It dodged easily, just as it had the first time, but unlike the first time, Ichigo was ready for it. He jumped over the counter attack as it came at him from above, flash stepping to just behind and to the left, slashing at its flank. It cried out in pain as it fell to the earth.

"You haven't got me yet!" it shrieked at him, and sent one of its arms stretching towards him, lightning fast. Ichigo found himself cursing when he could only barely dodge it, but he easily cut off the arm, and went directly in for the kill.

"Ichigo!" he heard a voice behind him, and glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Rukia appear, without Kon. He paused. If they came any closer and the hollow went for them...

"Don't interfere!" he yelled.

"Are you sure you should do that?" a voice unnaturally close to his ear said. He froze as he felt something jam into him, and looked down to see one of the creature's claws embedded in his shoulder. He cursed himself. How could possibly be _that_ slow? Even just during the Soul Society invasion, this would have been a no-brainer.

He grunted, turning a glare to look at the hollow.

"Besides," he managed to yell out. "This is my fight!" With that, he swung up and cut the hollow's second off before it could retract completely.

"Brat!" it hissed.

Ichigo put a hand on the wound. It went straight through his shoulder, but it wouldn't be too much to worry about once he'd finished. Rukia could heal it up no problem. Too bad Orihime...no, she wasn't going to get involved this time! He shook the thought from his head.

"Ichigo! Concentrate!" he heard Rukia say.

Right, that had always been his problem. Once he got into a fight, he relied too much on his feelings and pure strength to end it. Like with Renji. Between his anger and frustration, he had a hard time just focusing on the fight and; his thoughts were usually all over the place until he had enough sense knocked into him. He needed to calm down and find his center.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes.

"I told you not to take your eyes off of me!" he heard the hollow yell as it sent all sorts of attacks at him in the shape of furry spears and knife-hard fingers.

"Ichigo!" Rukia called out worriedly, but he ignored her, focusing on the attacks instead. They only met Ichigo's blade, and when he looked up again, his eyes had begun to glow blue from his riatsu.

"I didn't think I'd have to pull this kind of power out to get you," he said. Images of an over-flamboyant ex-espada suddenly crossed his mind, spouting out his "sweet as chocolate" phrases. "Seems like I never really do change."

His spiritual pressure skyrocketed, and he let it all out. The hollow, realizing that this had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, took a step back, and decided to pull out its trump card. As Ichigo came forward to slash down, it raised its lure, with the head in the shape of his mother. He'd been expecting it, and for that reason alone he didn't stop.

"You can't cut me now!" it yelled. "Cut me down and you cut down your own mother!"

The familiar face rose in front of him, yelling and pleading for him to stop. The fact that the lure got that far at all told Ichigo that despite his resolve, it was still getting through to him.

He didn't let it stop him. "Sorry, mom," he whispered and thrust his sword forward. The blade cut through the lure, and right into the mask behind. With a yell, he put all his strength into slashing upward, closing his eyes so he wouldn't see his sword pass through his mother's face.

The hollow let out one last shriek, and dissipated.

Ichigo watched, looking up at the rain-filled sky, feeling it drip onto him, just as it had that day all those years ago. It felt cleansing, and he could imagine his mother's soul finally being released. It made him feel just a little closer to her.

"I did it, mom," he said, breathing hard and clutching a hand to his shoulder. "I got him. Your killer."

"Your mother?" Rukia asked, breathlessly. "Your mother was killed by a hollow after all?!"

Ichigo looked down at her, sad smile already in place. "Yeah," he said.

"Weren't you there too? How did you survive?!"

"She died saving me," he responded, turning his face back up at the rain that had started to pour down around them. "I still don't remember very much, but I know that was the hollow that killed her."

"You avenged her?"

"Yeah," Ichigo nodded, and closed his eyes. The rain felt good on his skin.

"How does it feel?"

The question caught him off guard. He turned and looked down at the dark-haired woman, eyes wide with surprise. "What?"

"How does it feel? To take a life in revenge?"

Ichigo continued to look at her blank expression for several seconds, his thoughts turning in his head. How did he feel now that he'd finally taken King Fisher down?

Truthfully, he felt kind of empty, even through the satisfaction and triumph—the highs of fighting a harder battle.

"Sad," he responded, figuring that should be enough. If she wanted some more feminine, in-depth explanation, she wouldn't get it.

Fortunately, his answer seemed to appease her. "Good," she whispered. "That's how it's supposed to feel."

xXx

On their way back to the family's predetermined meeting place, Rukia explained that she and Kon had run into Karin and a nearly hysterical Yuzu, who had thrown herself at Kon in Ichigo's body, crying in relief. Rukia handed the little, lion body to Ichigo, and then gave him the glove.

"I expect that back," she warned, then went into the small building the family had used to take shelter from the rain.

A few seconds later, Kon came running out of the shack and practically threw himself at Ichigo, begging to be put back in his lion body because he couldn't handle being an older brother any longer.

Ichigo reached into his body with the gloved hand (which topped his level of surreal weirdness for the day) and pulled it back out easily, pill in hand. His body dropped to the ground just as he heard Yuzu call for him.

It only took a moment to shove the soul candy back inside the lion, pick his body off of the green grass, and merge back together.

"Nii-san!" Yuzu called out, starting to sound frantic.

"It's okay, he just needed to get something," he heard Rukia try to calm her down. "He'll be right back."

"What's wrong, Yuzu?" Ichigo asked, walking up nonchalantly, Kon dangling limply at his side.

Yuzu sniffed. "Is...is that what you had to go get?" she asked.

Ichigo looked down at Kon, who shot him a look that clearly said 'leave me out of it!'

"Yeah," he returned.

"Why?"

He couldn't help a grin on his face. "I wanted to give him to you." Rukia snickered, hiding a smile behind her hand. "Take good care of him, okay?"

Kon was going to try to kill him tonight, but maybe this would bring the old Kon back.

Author's Note: I chose to take this almost directly out of the Manga, so this is all similar to "Memories in the Rain" the OVA. Left the one shinigami guy out of it completely, even though I do like him. *shrug*


	6. R4: Embarassing Can Still Be Deadly

Back from doing my best to make money and killing myself in the process. I could use a few weeks of downtime...anyway, finally have time to post this! Enjoy! Thanks to my beta reader Scaehime-KingofKing's Daughter!

* * *

"So, have you found my powers yet?" Ichigo asked Sode no Shirayuki as he strode up behind her. She knelt on one of the many blue buildings, a noble air about her, even though she was facing away from Ichigo.

"You are not going to like this," she warned, not turning around. Did her voice ever warm up? Or did she just hate Ichigo that much?

He stopped walking towards her, pausing warily.

"What won't I like?"

She pointed to her left and the short, white building Ichigo had purposefully been avoiding thinking about. As he followed her gesture with his eyes, he felt his stomach drop to his knees. "Your powers reside in there," she said. "I have gone through all other buildings in the vicinity. None of them hold your powers. If they exist, they exist in there."

Ichigo stared at the back of her head, his expression blank as he tried desperately to keep the anger at life and this particular turn of events in check. Of course. He knew what that building represented. The memories from his hollow, the second set of memories he had whenever he recalled certain events. He shouldn't have anything like this in his head at all, seeing as he hadn't even _become_ a hollow in this time-line.

"As I cannot venture into that building, for whatever reason," And now she turned around, sicking an 'I-told-you-so' glare on him, "you will have to."

He stood there for several seconds, looking over at the building, surprised as his emotions finally began to calm down. It wasn't a peaceful calm, but more of a sad resignation he couldn't help as he stared at the white rooftop.

"As I thought, you do know what that building represents," Sode no Shirayuki clipped and stood gracefully. "Well, how badly do you want your Shinigami powers back?"

Ichigo still didn't answer her. Didn't even acknowledge her. What was the point? Either way, he'd have to go in there and face what he'd been avoiding this whole time (for good reason). If he really wanted to get out of these loops, he suspected he'd have to reach levels of power he could only now begin to really comprehend. This went way beyond Rukia, the lieutenants and the captains, the arrancar and espada, maybe even Aizen...

And he did want out of these loops. If by doing so he'd end up getting the power to protect Karakura town, his friends and his family from Aizen, then so much the better. Of course, he'd have to get that far without dying first. He sighed, realizing how his thoughts had already come full circle, only to be blocked by the whole lack of power thing again.

Kenpachi's words rang in his mind. "_Do we fight to get stronger? Or do we get stronger to fight?"_ Ichigo couldn't even find it in him to sigh. It seemed his personification of the man was correct. He would never escape battle. No matter how strong he got, he'd always have to fight someone stronger to protect those he loved. So he would always fight to gain strength, and he would always gain strength by fighting.

That idea thoroughly depressed him. After several seconds of his thoughts wandering around in the same disheartening circle, he shook his head dejectedly. Silently, he turned and started to walk towards the building.

"Thanks," he managed to say to her as he walked away, subsequently missing her expression of puzzlement and more than a little worry at his reaction.

xXx

Ichigo didn't remember opening a door or stepping through a window or anything even remotely similar. He didn't even remember walking through the roof or a wall. One moment he stood 'outside' on the blue buildings, and the next thing he knew, white, weathered (and rather dilapidated) walls surrounded him, filled from top to bottom with contrastingly pristine drawers. White boxes of varying sizes and states ranging from barely holding together to almost completely whole and new sat stacked from ceiling to floor in the corners he could see.

For a moment he examined the short hallway that turned at both ends. Then, unsure of what to do next, he simply began to walk.

_He closed on the weak idiot from above, swinging Zangetsu down towards the painfully orange head..._

Ichigo froze, unsure of where that thought had come from. Then he shook his head as if to clear it and continued moving, his steps perhaps a little more clipped. Strangely enough, the building wasn't sideways like the rest of his world. It made a funny kind of sense now that he thought about it. His sideways world had 'righted' itself when he'd begun his first hollow transformation after all.

"So you remember." A deep voice behind him caused him to whirl around so quickly he would have given himself whiplash if he'd been in his body.

"Old man!" he said, feeling a relieved smile come onto his face. But no one stood behind him. Scratching his head, he turned and continued on, wondering if he'd heard wrong. He also found himself wondering briefly if he could 'hear things' inside his own mind.

"You did hear me after all," the voice sounded again. "That is a good sign."

_He's strong, Zangetsu. Train him well. One day that power will be mine._

Tensing, Ichigo swallowed. "Why am I in here, old man? Why don't you come out?"

No answer. The red-head growled in frustration and continued walking, making sure to stay well away from the walls.

"You do not wish for me to," Zangetsu finally responded.

Ichigo couldn't help but exclaim: "What?! How could you think that?!"

Zangetsu answered, slowly, as if explaining would either be particularly tiresome or entirely too difficult. "If you accept me, you must accept all of me. That is the only way I can help you." His voice echoed eerily down the corridors.

Ichigo's scowl deepened. He'd been afraid of something like that.

"Forget the fear," Zangetsu reprimanded sternly. "Look forward."

"It's not the same," Ichigo muttered, but he felt the guilt begin to rise in the back of his mind.

The sword spirit continued on as if he hadn't heard Ichigo. "Move forward. Never ever stop."

The hard look on Ichigo's face began to soften. "Turning back will make me weak," he said the next line with a wry smile. For some reason, he remembered this little speech almost perfectly.

"Hesitate and you will die," Zangetsu finished.

"Zangetsu," Ichigo couldn't help but glance around, hoping the sword spirit might appear when Ichigo said the name as he had the first time when fighting Urahara. When the sword spirit didn't appear, he shook his head. "Guess just saying it won't work."

He could almost see Zangetsu scoff at that (which, with his sword spirit's normally expressionless exterior said quite a bit). "You have to believe it."

Ichigo brought a hand up to rub the back of his head, trying not to sound too frustrated. "If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't have bankai."

_'You don't deserve bankai.'_

Ichigo forced his thoughts away from the strange images and feelings invading his head. What he'd said to Zangetsu was a test, and he knew the old man knew it. It would show Ichigo exactly how much Zangetsu remembered (just because it would be his luck that either he or Zangetsu would have a partial memory).

"You cannot believe those words if you do not act upon them."

It wasn't really an answer, and both of them knew it, but Ichigo also knew Zangetsu had kept it purposefully vague, which meant he probably did know about the stupid time loops. However, Ichigo didn't respond, for the sole reason that he'd known what he had to do for a while...and he _really_ didn't want to do it.

"Why do you hesitate?" the sword spirit scolded.

Ichigo scowled. "Would you want to look through bad memories that aren't really yours?"

"If it would help me gain the strength I sought."

"Yeah," Ichigo muttered, looking over the worn, white walls with distaste, not really denying the point, but not conceding it either.

"Ichigo, they are your memories."

His stomach hardened into ice. "No, they're not."

"Then whose are they?"

"His," he literally spit the word out.

"'_He'_ was you, just as much as he was me."

"NO!" Ichigo spun around with a downward slash of his arm, looking up as if hoping to find the source of his frustration. "I'm not him!"

Zangetsu was silent for a moment. When he finally spoke, his voice had grown quiet, but hard. "But he was you."

"What do you mean?!"

"Why do you fear him, Ichigo? Why do you fear yourself?"

"I'm not him!"

_Che...missed._

The equivalent of a sigh reverberated around him. "You are not yet ready to draw me."

"Hold on!" Ichigo protested, now shouting. "What do you mean 'not ready'? I have Bankai! I trust you!"

"You used to," Zangetsu responded. "But now you do not trust yourself enough to fully awaken me, and you do not trust me enough for me to fully arouse myself."

"Of course I do!"

"Then why can I not awake?"

"I don't know!"

Zangetsu fell silent, but Ichigo could feel the disappointment permeating the building.

"Will you only face yourself when you become desperate? Do you care so little for those you fool yourself into thinking you protect?"

Ichigo opened his mouth to protest, but another memory cut him off.

_A Killer instinct! You don't have it, Ichigo! _

When Ichigo didn't speak, Zangetsu continued. "Anyone so selfish cannot trust, and so you cannot release bankai. You cannot even fully awaken me to release shikai."

It hadn't been a physical smack down like he normally got when some sense had to be beaten into him, but what Zangetsu had said hurt. A lot.

Sensing his change in mood, Zangetsu spoke again, this time with a softer (although still commanding) voice. "Turning back will make you weak."

Reluctantly, Ichigo looked over at the drawers lining the walls. He had a pretty good guess as to what would come next. It didn't mean he had to like it. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he reached a hand out, grabbed the nearest handle and pulled. The drawer came out easily and then-

_Freedom! Finally, he'd broken away from the depths of that imbecile's mind where he'd been trapped for what seemed like an eternity!_

_Now he had the will and ability to move, to fight all-out, to make his opponents suffer for daring to oppose him! His body trembled from the battering that weakling had taken, but it didn't matter. _He_ was strong!_

_Strong enough to fight!_

_Strong enough to WIN!_

_Strong enough to _**KILL**_!_

_"Impossible..." came the inevitable comment from the captain whose blade he now held firmly in his left hand. Kuchiki Byakuya stared down at him-and the mask spreading steadily across his face-with utter disbelief._

_An insane grin spread across his lips as, at the reminder of the Shinigami's presence, an overwhelming sensation washed over him: Hunger._

_Massive amounts of spirit energy awakened the almost forgotten appetite, and to his heightened senses, Byakuya felt wonderful. Powerful. Intoxicating._

_So much power to be gained! He could just imagine the taste as he mentally devoured-_

Ichigo slammed the drawer closed, stumbling back several steps as he blindly scrambled to get away. His mind didn't even register that he was running until, several seconds later, he fell, crashing to his hands and knees on blessedly familiar, sideways blue buildings, struggling for breath.

A trembling hand clutched at his chest, gathering material in a white-knuckle grip. He couldn't do it. The very thought of even trying again made him physically sick.

"I'm sorry... Zangetsu-san," he choked out between gasps, not even sure if the zanpakutou could hear him anymore. "I just can't..."

xXx

"You look awful, Nii-san," Yuzu said, putting on her 'I'm going to act like a worried mother hen' face.

Ichigo shrugged as a response, grabbed his toast and headed out the door with a half-hearted wave of his hand. He hadn't slept well. Fortunately, he hadn't been hampered from leaving his inner world by either of the sword spirits that resided in his head. Unfortunately, that left him alone with his thoughts as he lay in bed, listening intently to the silence around him and trying not to think about anything.

It didn't work.

He also had very few hollows to take his frustration out on during the day. He did notice that his friends seemed to realize that something was up. They acted normally (which he was more than thankful for), but he could tell a lot of it was just that: An act.

After school, he got home and stayed only long enough to get out of his body and then went right back out on hollow patrol...where he didn't run across a single hollow. At least Rukia let him off early. They got home, ate dinner, and cleaned up without incident, so it wasn't until after Ichigo had sat down again to finish off his juice that it happened.

"Bwahahaha!" his sister and father yelled the fake laugh at the top of their lungs. Ichigo knew that laugh. Suppressing a groan, he glanced over at the television. Sure enough, it said "Don Kanonji: Spirit Medium" in bright writing (both English and Japanese for some strange reason) across the screen.

"What is this?" Rukia asked, looking up from her phone and putting on the shy persona she'd been practicing on everyone all day. Ichigo hated when she did that, mostly because it wasn't her. Rolling his eyes, he focused back on his juice, tuning out the explanation as his family filled her in on the show. That's when he also noticed Karin sitting there, slowly sipping her juice while watching him.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She shrugged. Funnily enough, she hadn't bugged him about the Grand Fisher incident. That was probably on her mind now, but he wasn't willing to humor her at the moment. Ignoring her expression, he decided to focus back on the rest of his family and Rukia...who had now joined them in their fake laugh. Perhaps humoring Karin wasn't such a bad idea after all. Putting on his best stoically-annoyed expression, he began to drink his juice.

A loud squeal from Yuzu almost had him spitting it out again.

"Did you hear that?! He's coming to Karakura town!"

With some effort, Ichigo gulped the liquid down and focused on the screen just in time to see the picture of an abandoned hospital.

Did that happen so soon? For some reason, things seemed to be playing out either more quickly, or in a far different order than he really remembered. Briefly, he wondered if that was just him, or if it was normal to remember things like that. Not that this situation could be called anything even close to normal...

One thing he knew for sure, he'd be swinging by an abandoned hospital tomorrow. Taking care of the earthbound spirit now should stop anyone from being put in danger in the first place. He really should remember things like that when he first woke up in these stupid loops.

Rukia seemed surprised when he headed off in a different direction the next day.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"That hospital on TV last night," he replied.

"Why?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I got a bad vibe from the place."

"Over the picture box?" She had only recently grasped the concept of a television.

Again, Ichigo found himself shrugging and didn't slow his pace. Finally, she gave up and somewhat quietly fell into step behind him.

They had to dodge a few people who had come to set up for the movie, or fans/nutters who had come because they saw it on television, but for the most part, the earthbound spirit was easy to dispatch once they got him to come out. Rukia needlessly explained an earthbound spirit to him, then they cleansed his soul and that was that.

Or so he thought.

The day before the broadcast, Asano announced loudly and with a great deal of panic that the broadcast had been postponed. Ichigo didn't respond, but a great sense of relief rushed over him. Maybe he could somehow stop by Kanonji's place if he were still coming to town and knock some sense into the guy. Then again, knowing Kanonji...

Not three days later, he came home from his daily patrol (this time without Rukia, who had come up with some reason to not go that he couldn't remember) and found the house empty. Not even Karin was there.

Surprised, he whipped out his phone and called Karin.

"Moshi, moshi," she answered, sounding thoroughly bored. He had a hard time hearing her above the steady hum of noise in the background.

"Karin, are you with Dad and Yuzu?"

"Yeah," she responded.

"Where?" His family rarely went out as a group without extensive planning in advance. And why did he have a bad feeling in his gut?

"Didn't you hear about the television show that Dad and Yuzu like so much?"

"Yeah, it was canceled, right?"

He heard her sigh, and could picture her shaking her head at him. "No, it was postponed. They announced today that they'd have it at a local studio instead. That's where we are."

"Where?" he asked tersely.

"You don't even like these shows, so why do you care?"

"Karin, just tell me," he muttered, trying not to sound angry or upset.

"Um, just downtown, by the mall."

"Right," he acknowledged, already heading out the door. "And what are they doing?"

"An exorcism," she said flatly.

"What kind of exorcism? From a building?" Where would there be an earthbound spirit down town?

"No, a person, I think."

Ichigo felt his face go pale. That's right, earth-bound spirits could bind themselves to humans.

"I'll be right there!" he said, then snapped his phone shut and ran out the door, hitting the speed dial for Rukia's number.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled into his phone once she'd picked up.

"What is it?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Where are you?"

"I'm with your family, at the studio where they're filming that one-"

"Did you bring Kon?" he cut her off. She humphed, and he could almost imagine her put out expression.

"No."

He cursed.

"Why?" she asked, suddenly worried. "What's wrong?"

"Don Kanonji can see-"

"Who?" Apparently it was her turn to cut in. Grinding his teeth, Ichigo took a running leap at a fence and vaulted over it. A few bystanders stared in surprise but he didn't acknowledge them.

"The guy who you're there to see!" He grunted as his feet hit the ground, and he took a half a second to make sure he had his balance before shooting off down the street again. "He can really see spirits!"

A pause from the other end. "What? How do you know?"

"I saw it on his show!" The lie came a little too easily for him to really be comfortable with it. "That's how I knew there would be a spirit at the hospital. I figured if they were going to film there that there'd really be a spirit."

"I see," her voice sounded contemplative. Suddenly, cheering burst through the background. Ichigo immediately shot the hand holding his phone out and away from his ear. It didn't quite stop the ringing.

"Ow! What was that?" he asked, bringing the receiver near his mouth again.

"What?" Rukia yelled, although he could barely hear her through the noise. "I think that Don Kanonji guy just came in. He's kind of tall, with dark ha-"

A sudden burst of "bwahahaha" from the crowd drowned out her description, but it confirmed her suspicions to Ichigo.

"Yes," he yelled into the phone. "That's him! Stop him from performing his stupid wannabe exorcisms!"

"What are you so upset about?" Rukia asked, the annoyed tone creeping back into her voice. "Even if he is-"

"How does a plus become a hollow?" he cut her off again, dodging around a corner. His lungs were beginning to burn, but he pushed that knowledge to the side along with the blur of shop-lights popping on around him in the fading darkness as he dodged anything he saw ahead of him. More than one person cursed at him or yelped indignantly as he flew past, but he ignored that too for the most part.

"Excuse me?"

"How does a plus become a hollow?" he repeated. "And not something vague like 'they lose their heart'. How does it happen?"

"Their soul chain erodes, symbolizing the removal of the plus's heart. In some cases the chain will actually become what turns the spirit into a hollow because it becomes attached to something and pulls at their very being, which is symbolized by the growing hole in their chest."

A shape appeared in front of him and he launched himself into the air to avoid it, actually leaping over a stroller. What the heck was someone doing walking around with their baby at night anyway?!

A dog yapping from said stroller answered his inquiry. He decided he didn't want to know, and didn't even waste the energy on shaking his head.

"So I've seen that guy—"

"Hold on," Rukia interrupted again.

"What's going on?" he couldn't help but ask.

"They're introducing someone. A woman who says she's being haunted."

There! Ahead of him he saw the studio. A mob had gathered out in front and off to the side, where a make-shift stage had been set up.

"She has an obsessed spirit!" he heard Rukia's surprise, and squinted. Yes, the figure on the stage did indeed have a spirit chained to her. It wrapped it's arms around her and continued to repeat something Ichigo couldn't hear.

"Hey!" someone yelled. "You! Over there!"

He looked around and saw the security pointing at him. Dang it, not again! He couldn't afford to have them hold him back this time! What if Urahara wasn't there?

"Me?" he asked, playing innocent, although the heavy breathing didn't seem to help the image he tried to portray.

"What are you running in here like that for?" asked one of the guards, a shorter, stubbier one with black hair covered by a blue cap.

"I...I'm late," he said. "I was supposed to be here with my family."

A sudden scream cut through the air. Looking over at the stage, Ichigo saw Don Kanonji standing there, with his cane shoved into the spirit's chest, or more specifically the hole the chain had been attached to. It wasn't as developed as the earth-bound spirit the first time around had been, though, so he had time. He hoped.

"Ichigo!" He heard Rukia scream over the phone, but forced his eyes back to the security guards.

"I gotta get in there!"

"We're not supposed to let anyone else in!" one of the other men, a tall one with brown hair raised his hand.

"But my family!"

"Sorry, kid."

"Rukia!" He hissed into the phone. "They won't let me in!"

"I'll be right there."

He sat there, outside the roped-off area, pacing and feeling utterly useless. Even though the crowd wasn't more than 20 yards away, his footsteps still seemed to echo loudly in his ears.

Another pained scream ripped through the air, causing Ichigo to flinch. The agony behind that scream he knew all too well. How torturous it was to feel like your whole body was being ripped apart from the inside out, all starting where that stupid chain met the chest.

The announcer kept yelling things like, "This is our first live exorcism on a human! How is he doing? We can't tell, but will Don Kanonji prevail!?"

Finally, a slight figure came running from the crowd, waving her hand at him.

"Ichigo!"

"Rukia!"

"Hey!" The tall security officer said. "We can't let anyone in after a certain time."

Somehow a handkerchief appeared in her hand. "But...but he's my boyfriend!"

If Ichigo hadn't been so focused on the scene barely visible on the stage, he would have face-planted.

"What?!" he couldn't help but yell, feeling his cheeks burn.

"Th-this was supposed to be our f-f-first date!" His face went a little redder as she continued to speak. "He told me he had to pick up something for me! And now he won't be able to see the live broadcast of his favorite show ever and it's all my fault!"

How was it that she could have grown men eating out of her hand so easily? Especially when she seemed so utterly transparent to Ichigo.

"W-well," the tall guy stuttered, "I guess...just this once..."

"Thank you so much!" her demeanor changed immediately as she dragged Ichigo inside. From the expressions on their faces as Ichigo watched them grow smaller over his shoulder, they looked about as confused as...well, as Renji normally did. That actually explained a lot...

Then, quite suddenly, he found himself looking down at his body as it collapsed on the outskirts of the crowd.

"Go!" Rukia hissed. "Stop him!"

"Right," Ichigo shook his head, and focused on the man on stage. The girl who stood next to him kept glancing uncertainly between Don Kanonji and the area where his staff seemed to stick into the air to everyone else. Ichigo saw the distorted form of the obsessed spirit writhing as the cane did it's work.

Just as he got to the edge of the crowd, the staff snapped down, and the chain around the woman vanished.

"No!" Ichigo found himself shouting, "Resist! Fight it! Listen to me!" He shot forward and put all the speed he could muster into bringing the hilt of his sword down...onto nothing. The plus vanished just as he landed.

"NO!" he yelled, even louder, and followed up with some colorful cursing. He felt like he'd been crawling at a snails pace the whole time. Of course, compared to his bankai, anything felt slow, even though he'd been going all out, but, yet again, he'd been too late. It frustrated him to no end.

"Boy? What are you doing?!" Don Kanonji's voice cut through his thoughts. Ichigo glanced over his shoulder, eyes glaring hard enough to make even the charismatic man take a few steps back. Now the woman kept glancing between Kanonji and where Ichigo stood, although the substitute doubted she could see him.

Ichigo turned around slowly, his eyes glancing between the woman and the television star. "You idiot."

"Ah, it's a rival! A ghost who is jealous of my talents!"

"What the heck?! Don't flatter yourself!" Ichigo wondered why he felt so...angry. Last time, Kanonji had been annoying, but now every word that came out of the guy's mouth seemed to grate on Ichigo's last nerve. He wasn't really sounding like himself much. That didn't stop him. "You just put us all in danger! Especially her!" He pointed at the woman.

"What do you mean, boy?"

"Who is he talking to?!" the announcer asked in stage-hushed tones. "A new ghost has entered the scene! Will the great spirit master exorcize it as well?!"

"Of course, I shall send you on now!" Don Kononji yelled in response, striking a pose. The woman now glanced in Ichigo's direction, looking frightened.

Ichigo ignored him and grabbed the front of his shirt with his fist and lifting the man off of the ground. People in the crowd gasped and everyone on the stage backed up a step. "You didn't exorcize anyone! Just because they disappear doesn't mean they're gone! You turned that spirit into a monster, and now it'll hunt people and other ghosts with large spiritual energy!"

"Then why did you say she is in danger?!" The man asked, pointing dramatically at the woman, who shrieked and dropped to her knees, looking more and more frightened by the second.

"Because," Ichigo let the man go, his voice calming somewhat. "The first people a hollow wants to go after are the people he loved in life."

Almost as if on cue, the hollow shriek rung through the air. Grinding his teeth, Ichigo looked out over the crowd, then turned back to the other two. "You're coming with me," he said suddenly, grabbing Kanonji, "and so are you," he said to the woman, although she obviously couldn't hear him.

Taking ahold of her arm caused her to yelp and flail around, but no sooner had she gotten a shriek out than they found themselves in mid air, heading like a rocket up the side of the building. The woman screamed this time, long and loud, while the onlookers pointed in awe and fear.

Ichigo glanced back for just a moment, and caught sight of Inoue freaking out with Tatsuki trying to calm her down, and felt a touch of relief. If they'd seen him, they'd be staring. He didn't notice Yuzu standing with wide, disbelieving eyes right next to Karin.

When Ichigo got to the roof, he set the other two down. The woman scrambled over to Kanonji, latching onto his leg like her life depended on it. He tried to ignore her (practically dragging her along while Ichigo looked on with a sort of morbid fascination) and approached the shinigami, flailing his arms wildly.

"How did you do that, boy? Is it because you are a spirit? I shall exorcize you t-"

"I keep telling you! You didn't exorcize that ghost! And you can't exorcize me!"

He stopped. "What do you mean, boy? Of course I did! And fear not! Of course I will!"

Ichigo felt a vein in his head begin to throb. Had Kanonji been this difficult to begin with? He had to get _something_ through to the man. "That plus lost it's soul chain and became a hollow. His heart and humanity were literally ripped away from him. It hurts. A lot. More than _you_ can comprehend. It's going to be angry, upset and hungrier than you can imagine, and it's going to come after us. Got it?" Vaguely, Ichigo wondered when he'd gotten so talkative.

"You speak nonsense, boy! For I, Don Kanonji, Spirit master di-" He cut off when Ichigo rushed forward, knocking both him and the woman out of the way of a large hand that came smashing down where they'd been.

"Stay out of the way!" Ichigo growled, now focused intently on the fight. It wouldn't be that difficult...if certain people didn't butt in, that is. Then the dust and dirt from the now fractured roof cleared away enough for Ichigo to want to smack his forehead at the sight.

The hollow that stood before him had to be the most ridiculous looking hollow he'd ever seen. That included all the Arrancar, Espada _and_ Aizen from his former life. Really, it looked like a giant white flower with long arms waving around like Jello-filled tubes.

He wasn't quite sure where the thought came from, but it still flitted across his mind. _I'm glad I don't look like that._

Then he realized what the idea implicated and felt his gut clench. Forcing the strange thought from his mind, he raised his nameless Zanpaktou between him and the monster.

"I loved you..." it said in the scratchy, echoing tone of a hollow. Ichigo blinked for a moment before he realized it was talking to the woman behind him.

"She can't see you," he said dryly. "And to get to her, you'll have to get past me."

For what happened next, Ichigo blamed Kanonji entirely. Ichigo had been sitting there, perfectly ready and capable of taking out the hollow, when the psychic pulled the idiotic stunt of attacking the hollow with that pathetically slow spiritual blast canon or whatever it was. The hollow went to attack him (freaking Kanonji out to the point of him screaming like a girl) and trying to dodge away. Ichigo could tell he wouldn't make it, and his body moved before he'd even realized. He just had to get in between the stupid hollow and the (somewhat) innocent bystander.

Suddenly, he knew exactly how Rukia had felt when she'd jumped in front of that hollow. Fortunately, he had his sword between him and the hollow. Despite the thing's massive teeth clamping down around his body and the tentacle-like-arms wrapping around the rest of him, he was still able to slice through the mask.

He could have survived that. It was the extra blue canon ball he hadn't seen coming that took him out this time.

Strangely enough, his last thought before the blue light overtook him was 'what an embarrassing way to go'.


	7. R5: Sarcasm Can Make for Happy Accidents

When Ichigo woke up in his bed, his clock reading 20:04, he seriously considered hunting Kanonji down. That had been the furthest he'd gotten in the time-loops! Admittedly, he'd only gone through about three or four of them at this point (and hopefully he could keep it at a low number), but still, the man was a menace that shouldn't be left to roam free.

It took Karin and/or Yuzu screaming again to snap him out of his angry internal tirade. He hadn't even noticed Rukia entering the room this time.

Cursing loudly, he bolted out the door after the shinigami. It took him a moment to consider what he should do at that point. Save his sisters, of course, but what about the hollow? It seemed he lasted longer when he got the shinigami powers from Rukia (go figure), but he still hated the idea of making her jump in front of the hollow.

Still, if that was what it took for him to live longer in the time-loop and protect the people he loved (he was not going to let his sisters face the Grand Fisher without him being there!), then so be it.

As he rushed back outside, yelling at the hollow and throwing rocks in its general direction, he braced himself for what would come next. He would realize later that he hadn't taken into consideration the fact that he hadn't spoken to Rukia, nor had he acknowledged her existence. As such, she could only stare in confusion at the human boy who could apparently see spiritual beings as the hollow lunged at him. He saw realization on her face before she jumped to stop the hollow, but her actions came far too late. He tried to move, but the hollow's teeth hit him, and then the agony and then...

He woke up with a start to the familiar sight of his room just barely touched by the fading evening light and it only took a moment for his senses to come back to him. With a string of curses that would have made Ikkaku do a double take, Ichigo shoved his fist practically through the wall.

Of course, that's when Rukia came walking through said wall. Again.

Ichigo stared at her for just a moment. Why hadn't she come to his rescue? What had been so different? He remembered the expression of confusion from her before the pain of being eaten by a hollow took over. Why had she been so confused?

He definitely needed more time to think about this. If he let her take care of this hollow now, he could still do what he did before and track her down during the day. Until then, he could come up with some sort of plan or idea as to what the heck he was going to do next...because nothing seemed to be working.

Of course, Karin and Yuzu screaming had all thoughts rushing out of his head, and he berated himself for not thinking of them earlier. What kind of an older brother was he? Hadn't he decided to go after them first this time?

He rushed down the stairs and managed to get to his sisters before the giant hand reached them. Grabbing a chair, he thrust it with all his might at the appendage, breaking the chair into bent and jagged pieces.

"Ichi-nii! What is that?!" Karin cried out fearfully.

"What?!" Yuzu asked, nearly on the verge of tears. She also seemed to be gasping for breath, probably from the reiatsu strength now that Ichigo thought about it. No wonder they collapsed every time this thing attacked. "What's happening?!"

"You two stay behind me," he said grimly, refusing to take his eyes off of the hollow. As he'd expected, the hand had only just paused when he'd hit it with the chair, and while he'd taken advantage of that pause to get between the hollow and his sisters, that was about the only idea he had at the moment.

Thankfully, Rukia took advantage of the pause too and attacked, severing the hand from its arm. Ichigo heard Yuzu gasp behind him and then:

"Yuzu? YUZU?!" Karin shrieked. Recognizing that Rukia had everything handled, he turned to see his dark-haired sister holding the limp form of her twin. Worry spiking, he knelt down and felt for a pulse, relieved when he found a strong one almost immediately.

"She fainted," he said, unable to stop relief from showing in his voice.

Karin seemed on the verge of fainting herself. "Nii-san, what's going on?" Ichigo cringed inwardly. Karin didn't call him that...ever. He could count on one hand the times she had, and none of them had been pleasant for her. He could at least take solace in the fact that she wouldn't remember this in the morning, although he'd always hated the idea of erasing memories after a hollow attack, especially in a case such as his or Orihime's. As he stared down at his sister's pale, desperate face, though, he suddenly realized why the Shinigami removed said memories. It allowed the victims to move on with their lives in blissful ignorance. He still wasn't sure he liked the idea, especially when done to him, but he could grudgingly accept the necessity now.

But then again, did they have the right to take that away from people? Of course they thought they did. They were shinigami and all seemed to think that their rules and laws trumped humans. Not that it would be the first thing that really bothered him concerning the Soul Society and their laws.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rukia approach them cautiously.

"Karin," he said softly, "if you and Yuzu could forget this happened, would you?"

She paused, blinking at him as if trying to comprehend his words for several seconds before sputtering angrily.

"What does that have to do with-"

"Karin, please, just answer the question."

"Of course not!" she said indignantly. Just inside the hole in the wall, Rukia stopped, regarding them both with a confused expression. "What if it happens again?! I can't just walk blindly around if Yuzu could get hurt!"

"What if I can promise you that you'll be safe from now on?"

Karin frowned and glared at her older brother. Secretly, Ichigo was happy that color was returning to her face, even if it was in frustration and anger.

"Then why was there a problem this time?"

Ichigo sighed. "It was my fault. I didn't mean it, but something I did today caused that monster to want to track me down. It was hungry and thought that my high spiritual pressure could sate it for a while. For the same reason, the person who usually takes care of those kinds of things couldn't track it well because my power was in the way."

Seriously, he was getting as wordy as Hat-n-clogs.

"You mean her?" Karin asked pointedly and turned to look at a rather shocked Rukia.

"Y-you can see me?" she asked.

"Yes," Ichigo responded dryly.

"Kind of," Karin muttered. "I know you're there, but it's more like an impression, like my eyes don't want to see you for some reason."

"How is this possible?" Rukia asked, as confused as ever. "And how did you know all of that?" she asked, turning to Ichigo, who scowled. He was not in the mood.

"I saw it in a vision," he said. If his voice had been dry before, it practically sucked water out of the air now.

Despite the obviousness of his sarcasm, Rukia didn't catch it. "So... you're saying you're a seer of some sort?"

Ichigo considered the merits of banging his head against the wall.

"V-vision?" Karin choked out.

"No," Ichigo muttered tiredly. This was why he wasn't usually sarcastic. He hated it when people misunderstood him.

His poor sister looked so confused. "I don't understand—"

_POOF_

"GOOOOD MOOORRNING ICHIGOOOOO!"

He managed to dodge the attack and had to tell himself over and over again that he would not kill Rukia the next time he saw her. Due to the fact that Karin and Yuzu were acting as normal as ever, by the time he left for 'school', he'd almost convinced himself that he wouldn't.

xXx

In previous loops, Ichigo had sought Rukia out only to run into a hollow. While it hadn't left any particularly good impressions on him, he decided that if a method worked, he'd go with it. Which was why he found himself running through the park with an angry glower as the same hollow he'd met the previous two times chased him.

The method worked. Didn't mean he had to like it.

It took Rukia far too long to find them this time in his opinion, and he was more than a little winded, even after she'd shown up and sent the Hollow on. He watched her carefully as she sheathed her blade and turned to face him with wariness and curiosity. Funny, he remembered her walking away the last time she came to his rescue without having to jump in between him and the hollow.

After a few moments, he scowled as he straightened and looked over at her. "What took you so long?"

Rukia's eyes widened a fraction before narrowing. "I didn't realize you would put yourself willingly into trouble again."

Ichigo's frown deepened. "Why would I do something like getting chased by a hollow willingly? It was the only way I knew of to find you."

The narrow eyes gained more than a hint of suspicion. "How do you know what they're called?"

The teenager almost kicked himself. He shouldn't know that. How would he explain that away? Or perhaps he should just tell her everything?

"Is it your 'visions'?" she asked cautiously. "Is that why you remember me?"

Ichigo sighed. Had that been what had stopped her from wiping his memory again and walking away? He'd have to remember that for future loops if this one didn't work out. Still, he did plan on telling her the truth more slowly this time...maybe this could work in his favor? He wasn't sure, but he figured it was worth a shot.

"Something like that," he muttered, hoping it sounded real.

"Then do you know who I am?"

"Yes."

A pause then Rukia's glare returned. "Who do you think I am then?"

Ichigo scowled. "I know your name is Kuchiki Rukia and that you were adopted into the Kuchiki Clan."

Her face paled so quickly that Ichigo began to regret his decision of playing along. "H-how could you know that?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged noncommittally. "I know a lot of things."

"I can see that," she said softly. "Do you know what I am?"

"You're a Shinigami from the Soul Society, or afterlife. You belong to the 13th squad of the Gotei 13 under Ukitake Juushiro. I also know you tried to erase my memories last night. Don't do that again."

Rukia stared at him blankly for several seconds before shaking her head, obviously trying to wrap her mind around the realizations. "Do the answers just come to you?"

Ichigo shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "I guess."

"I have to report this," she muttered, half to herself, half to Ichigo. It was his turn to blanch.

"You can't!"

Rukia jumped and took a step back from him. "What? Why not?"

"If you do, we'll both be killed."

The girl blinked at him for several seconds before a calming smile crossed her face. "The Soul Society isn't like that. They wouldn't come and kill you just because-"

Ichigo shook his head. "It's not them. There's a traitor, and if he knows I know the future, he'll kill me."

"A traitor?" Rukia looked more distraught than ever. "What do you mean a traitor?!"

Ichigo paused and regarded the slight figure before him, wondering how to put it so that he didn't give too much away. Again he knew he needed to keep away from Aizen's name, lest he lose any trust Rukia had suddenly found in him. He briefly wondered how Hat-n-clogs and Aizen were able to hide as many things as they did on a regular basis if Ichigo found it this taxing and confusing. No wonder they were so messed up.

"There are three of them, actually," he said slowly. "They're building an army to fight the King of the fSoul Society using Arrancar."

Rukia blinked. "Arrancar?"

Ichigo frowned. "Hollows that have taken part of their mask off and gained Shinigami powers."

He knew immediately that he'd gone too far as Rukia's fearful expression suddenly turned skeptical. "I've never heard anything like that happening."

Right, she didn't know about hybrids. Ichigo shrugged it off as best he could. "I'm just telling you what I know."

"Because of your visions?"

Ichigo shrugged again. He never had been much of an actor and he couldn't lie if his life depended on it. It had never been a skill he'd really needed before. "Look, just don't report back to the Soul Society about me. Once you get back you can tell your Captain directly. No other captains. Not even your brother."

She regarded him for several minutes before conceding hesitantly. "Very well."

Ichigo smiled in relief. This might actually work. If he could convince Rukia and Ukitake, then maybe they could catch Aizen somehow. Of course, they'd have to worry about the whole Soul Society being hypnotized, but they could cross that bridge when they came to it.

"Anyway, I should probably get back to my patrol," Rukia said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh, yeah. But wait!" Rukia paused in her turn to leap away. "How do I find you?"

She thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Carry on with your life normally. As you obviously know, I will want to speak with you again, so I will find you."

Ichigo nodded slowly, not happy about his inability to contact her, but unable to come up with a solution that she would agree to at this point. He also didn't like how quickly she'd suggested she should leave and suspected she was going to contact her captain anyway.

"If you contact Ukitake-taichou now, he'll know." After all, Aizen would come down and kill him...again. He really hated that man. He fixed Rukia with a serious gaze, trying to drive the point home. "He'll kill me, and I can't stop him." Yet.

Rukia paused once more as she glanced over her shoulder with an unreadable expression. Then she nodded and jumped. A quick shunpo allowed her to vanish from sight and Ichigo could only stare after her, wondering about this new, rather strange development all because Rukia couldn't recognize human sarcasm.

Which was strange because the Rukia he remembered could be _very _sarcastic when she wanted to be.

Of course, that had been after she'd taken up residence on Earth without her powers. Had she really changed that much in the few months he'd been doing her job for her? Very suddenly, he felt like he didn't truly know her at all, and for some reason that _really_ bothered him.

"Carry on with my normal life," he thought, annoyed as he glanced at his surroundings. She honestly expected him to just go back to school or something? Then again, what was he supposed to do now? Train? He didn't exactly have powers to train up. But then what could he accomplish at school?

Still, he honestly couldn't think of anything better to do at the moment, so grudgingly, he turned and trudged along the road where he'd stopped when Rukia had finally caught up with them. He hadn't noticed all of the people staring at him as he spoke to thin-air, and now that he did, he couldn't bring himself to care.

He did, after all, have far more important things to worry about.

xXx

Rukia didn't seek him out again for several days. The funny thing was, when she did corner him (after school almost a week and a half later), she insisted that he follow her right then and there. She then proceeded to head to a nearby park, find a grove of well-cared-for trees that provided some privacy and settled on the grass. She also took a small, black box with a microphone-like attachment.

"What's that?" Ichigo asked, frowning.

"A recording device."

"What for?"

Rukia paused in her set up to glance up at him. "I had the Gotei 13 send me one so I could record you discussing your visions. This way I can get this information to Captain Ukitake faster."

Ichigo considered her suggestion carefully (he had no desire to end up on the wrong end of Aizen's sword again). Truthfully, the biggest problem he had with that was the fact that the device probably came from the 12 squad and he wouldn't trust them as far as he could throw them.

"What did you say for them to send that to you?" he asked. "And how?"

This time, she didn't stop at all as she spoke. "I told them I found something I wanted to record."

He frowned thoughtfully. "You didn't tell them anything about me at all?"

"No," she replied.

Ichigo relaxed, feeling impressed in spite of himself.

"Alright," he said as he took a seat at the base of a tree. "What do you want to know?"

xXx

Her inquisition consisted mostly of questions about his visions over what he actually saw. It frustrated him that he couldn't get to warning the Soul Society yet, but he kept reminding himself to introduce all of this to her slowly so she could accept it. Probably would with Ukitake believing him as well.

Didn't mean it didn't nearly drive him up a wall. He didn't do well sitting back and waiting or planning.

Somehow he managed to get through her questions about his 'powers' and how they worked in general. He felt badly about lying to her, but she worded her inquiries in such a way that he didn't have much of a chance to really tell the truth without tearing down what little interest and faith she had in him...which meant he would have to keep this facade up for...well, he didn't know how long. Just the thought of having to keep it up tended to drain him of any energy. By the time they finished, he just wanted to go home and sleep for the rest of the week.

"Alright, one more question this time," Rukia finally said. Ichigo nearly sighed with relief. "Is there something in the near future that we can record to prove that this isn't just a hoax?"

Ichigo tried to hide a wince as her words hit too close to home for his comfort. Then he frowned and thought back to the events that would happen in the near future. "Yeah," he said finally. "There's a girl in our class, Inoue Orihime. Her brother died about three years ago. He's going to come to Karakura town as a hollow in the next few days and attack her."

Rukia frowned. "I'll keep an eye on her. Is there anything specific I should know about him?"

"Uh, he looks like a snake?" Ichigo supplied. "And he might come after me too...and anyone else who Inoue knows."

"Might?" Rukia asked skeptically. "Don't you know?"

"I told you, I don't know everything that will happen," Ichigo snapped.

"Then how can we trust your visions?"

Ichigo's scowl intensified. "I may not know all the details, but the major things are right. Inoue's going to get attacked. Her friends may or may not." Had Sora come after him last time because of his shinigami powers? Or had it just been a coincidence? Or had it been Aizen?

Ugh. He really needed to stop being so paranoid.

Then again, it was Aizen.

Rukia considered him for several seconds before nodding and turning to shut the device off. "Alright, I'll keep an eye on your friend and we'll see what happens. Then we'll discuss what you told me before later."

"About the traitors, you mean?"

Rukia nodded.

Ichigo thought about it for a moment then returned her nod slowly.

"Very good," Rukia said as she stood up. "I will see you within the week."

"Yeah," Ichigo said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster...which even he would admit wasn't much, but Rukia didn't seem to notice.

"Until then, be safe and avoid hollows," she admonished.

Ichigo scowled and didn't answer as she vanished, leaving wind and leaves swirling slightly behind her before it settled and the clearing stilled. Then he got to his feet and walked home. He informed Yuzu that he wasn't feeling well (assuring her that he was just tired from studying for school) and went up to bed early that night.

xXx

Ichigo had expected the whole situation to go down as it had before, and he had little doubt that Rukia could handle Sora's hollow. He didn't expect a knock on his window just a few afternoons later, nor did he expect a bloodied shinigami to be at the window.

"Oi," he said worriedly as he stood aside to allow her room to stumble into his room. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Rukia sighed, quite literally collapsing onto the ground. Ichigo ran to the bathroom and returned a few moments later with some bandages and disinfectant, thanking his father for teaching the whole family how to treat and wrap a wound. Not that he'd ever say that aloud.

"What happened?" he repeated sternly.

"I made a mistake," Rukia muttered.

"What do you mean?"

She shot him a glare. "You're not getting visions about this?"

He didn't dignify that with an answer. Instead he tugged at the bandage he'd begun to wrap around her rather torn-up sword arm. Her wounds looked deep and more like tears than cuts. So they hadn't been inflicted by a sword. If he'd venture a guess, he'd say a hollow bite?

"It was your friend's brother. He went for her this afternoon."

Ichigo froze. But Sora hadn't attacked so early in the day before? Why...?

Then he remembered a hand-print bruise on Orihime's leg from the first time, before the loops really started. Her brother had protected her from the car instinctively...

"Is she alright?" Ichigo asked worriedly. "Did the car get her?"

Rukia raised an eyebrow calmly. "No. The strangest thing happened...he didn't seem like he was going to attack her."

"He saved her instead," Ichigo said quietly.

Rukia sighed and nodded. "I think he was going to, but if that's the case I don't understand."

"There was still some of him left," Ichigo heard himself say. "His heart was still there, buried under the instinct."

The shinigami hissed as he finished bandaging her arm and motioned for her to turn so he could work on her leg. Then he'd get to work on the gash he could see on her back. He wasn't looking forward to the awkwardness that that would bring to their conversation.

"Anyway, I still wasn't going to let that hollow touch her, but it was either that or get her out of the way myself. I got her out of the way of the car, but she couldn't see me. Between her surprise and the hollow's reaction to my presence...well, let's just say it didn't go as well as I would have liked."

Ichigo paused in his bandaging and shot her a dry look as if to say 'really, I couldn't tell'.

She frowned at him, but otherwise ignored the expression and continued. "Anyway, no sooner had I gotten her out of the way, than the hollow attacked. It was my fault, really. I put myself between her and the hollow subconsciously. If I would have moved, it would have hurt her, and I didn't have time to really turn around when I heard it scream...so it bit me."

This time Ichigo froze, feeling a heavy ball of ice begin to form in his stomach.

"You didn't..."

She looked over at him curiously. "Didn't what?"

"Transfer your powers to her...?" Just like she'd done for Ichigo. He knew she'd do it if it meant saving lives, but...Orihime?

Rukia's eyes went wide and she seemed impressed. "Only half. They'll come back soon enough. Probably sooner if I had a gigai. I have to recover before I can really go out and fight again, but I can't report this to the Soul Society."

"Because it's illegal," Ichigo muttered finishing up with her leg. Really, he wanted to start yelling at the deities in charge of his life. How could he allow Orihime to be dragged into this! He should have been there! Maybe he would have been able to do something... But then why hadn't things worked out like before? Was it because Rukia had been watching Orihime? And why had Rukia come back to Ichigo? Why hadn't she gone to Urahara to get a gigai? Or had he originally approached her? Had he approached her this time?

"Was there a man there? With a striped hat and geta?"

Rukia narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Yes."

"Did he offer you a gigai?" Him approaching Rukia did make sense, what with him wanting to destroy Hyogoku...

It had never bothered Ichigo before, the idea of hiding the Hyogoku inside someone's soul, mainly because they'd averted catastrophe the first time...well, for the most part. But still, had Urahara just been waiting for any random shinigami? Had he really hidden the Hyogoku with the intent to have it destroyed with the person's soul because he knew Aizen would use the Sokyoku to try and get it? Had he honestly been about to condemn the next random soul that got stationed there?

Suddenly, Urahara seemed far more sinister and ruthless than he had before.

"...Yes." Her hesitant reply brought him back to the situation at hand.

Ichigo blinked. "Why did you refuse?"

Rukia suddenly seemed far more suspicious. "Don't you know?"

"I told you, I don't know everything," Ichigo muttered with a frown.

"You mean you don't see everything?" Rukia asked, cocking her head.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Should I have accepted his offer? I don't even know who he is, and that alone is suspicious."

Ichigo shook his head. "No, you made the right choice."

That seemed to confuse the shinigami. "You know him?"

He was about to answer 'of course', when he realized that this was a new loop. Right. This was getting hard to keep track of.

"No."

"Another one of your visions?"

Ichigo frowned again. Looking for a distraction, he noticed that he'd finished with her leg. Now he needed to tend to her back. Trying not to blush, he walked over to his closet and pulled out a t-shirt and some sweat pants.

"Go into the bathroom and change into these," he said, holding up the pants. "And wrap one of the towels around you. I have to treat and wrap that wound on your back."

Rukia seemed to realize why he suddenly acted so awkward and a blush rose to her cheeks too. She took the clothes gingerly and began to make her way to the door, muttering under her breath the whole time. Ichigo found he really didn't want to know what she was saying. Probably something about him being perverted or the like. That seemed to be how she dealt with awkward situations: Insult someone.

Neither one of them said much of anything as he cleaned and wrapped the wounds. On closer inspection, he found many wounds in a half-moon shape indicative of a bite. None of them looked too wide or too deep, there were just a lot of them. As far as he could tell, she wouldn't need stitches.

Maybe he really should try and learn some healing kido. Of course, he and Kido didn't tend to work out very well. He didn't have the control...

Well, it was worth considering. He'd have to ask Rukia about it later.

When he finished, he turned around so she could put the t-shirt on in privacy.

"I'd better go," she said when she'd finished changing. "I thank you for your help."

He whirled around, surprised, to see her bowing respectfully.

"Where will you go?"

She paused. "Don't worry about me."

He frowned again. "No. You can have the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."

"I couldn't impose-"

"If you go running around, you'll tear those wounds open again." After all, he tended to be the expert on receiving wounds and having to heal. He folded his arms sternly. "So you can stay here as long as you need."

She shook her head. "Why are you doing this? You don't even know me."

He paused for a moment. Hadn't he just been thinking about how he really hadn't known her? Still, there were some things that would never change.

"I know you're a good person and a hard worker. I know you're dedicated and that you'll do your best to protect those around you. Do I need to know anything else?"

She shook her head again. "Do your visions ever fail you?"

He blinked at her for several seconds before deciding that he really didn't have an answer to that. "Just lay down and rest, baka," he muttered and turned to walk out of the room. "I'll go get some food."

* * *

Everyone thank Daricio and Scaehime-KingofKing's Daughter for their help with this chapter!


	8. R6:Even the Best Laid Plans Can Go Wrong

_Last Time: Ichigo had just spoken to Rukia, who (to his surprise) had given her powers to Orihime._

Despite what most of the people who knew her thought, Inoue Orihime had little trouble differentiating between the real world and her (rather fantastic) day-dreams. She just preferred the day-dreams.

Well, she'd never had problems before. Now though...

She woke up in pain. Not the kind of pain that usually accompanied the bruises she acquired when tripping or falling, but the kind that suggested she'd spent the last month working out non-stop with Tatsuki. Never the less, she managed to roll out of bed and grab something from her fridge to eat (she wasn't even sure what as she'd been too tired to do anything but just grab a few containers, but that's what made it more interesting) before Sora's shrine froze her in her tracks.

That's when she remembered everything that had happened the evening before and whatever she'd been eating clattered to the floor.

She remembered grabbing leeks, the last thing on her shopping list, and heading home. Then, while crossing a street, she'd heard a honk, and then...

_The car came right for her and she realized that she couldn't get out of the way in time. She was going to die...and then her world turned upside down. She felt something touching her leg, and then she'd suddenly found herself flying through the air, but the car hadn't hit her. It felt more like someone had grabbed her and carried her away, but she couldn't see anyone. _

_Her heart clenched. A ghost! She wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Then the ghost put her down rather forcefully and then...nothing. She just sat there for several seconds, blinking at the surprisingly deserted street. Something wasn't right, though. She could sense a heaviness to the air and she did _not _like it. Deciding she'd had enough, she went to stand and then froze at the sudden utter _agony_ piercing her chest...and then she realized she could see everything. As she fell back on the ground, she noticed the giant, snake-like monster that had a black-clad, sword-wielding girl half-way in its mouth. _

_That's when she managed to find her voice, and screamed...or tried to. It came out more as a weak squeak. Why couldn't she breathe? It felt like she had a hundred-pound weight on her lungs. That's when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she turned to see _herself_ lying on the pavement a few meters away, and the large, sharp appendage from the monster skewering her own chest just below where a chain connected her current self to the body. If she thought she couldn't feel any more fear, she'd been horribly wrong. _

_Then, the black-clad girl wriggled, managing to push the sword up and breaking a portion of the white, mask-like covering the monster had over its face. _

_And then everything froze. She knew that face. _

"_S-sora-nii-san?" she whispered, ice coating her stomach. She suddenly felt sick. Sora had become a monster? "How?" Tears came to her eyes and she couldn't move them or blink or look away..._

_Then Sora screamed and vanished into a black hole that appeared in the air directly behind him. _

"_NO! Nii-san!" She hated how weak her voice sounded. He either didn't hear her or ignored her completely. Why could she barely move? Was it the chain? More tears came to her eyes as she forced herself forward. She did not want to lose him again! But then the hole closed and he vanished. _

"_N-nii-san!" She wanted to follow him somehow, but something was holding her back. The chain? She reached up to her chest and began pulling at it. _

"_Don't!" Orihime looked around and saw the girl in the black hakama and gi had pulled herself into a sitting position against a lamp post just down the street. She'd been the one to speak. _

"_W-who a-are y-y-you?" the light-haired girl stuttered._

"_I am a shinigami. I come from the Soul Society, you might know it as Heaven."_

"_You came to take Nii-san?" Orihime asked quietly._

"_Yes."_

_The tears came more freely. She'd lose him again, even more than she already had. "W-what happened to him?"_

_The girl paused. "When a soul loses its heart, it becomes a hollow. Hollows will attack and try to consume the people they loved in life to try and fill the void that was their heart. When I kill them or cut the mask with my sword, it cleanses their soul and sends them onto the Soul Society, where they can live in peace."_

_Orihime noticed the tears on the sidewalk below her and shut her eyes to avoid seeing them. "How do they lose their heart?"_

_The girl still seemed hesitant and studied Orihime for several seconds before answering again. "There are several ways. Another hollow could attack them and eat their soul chain. They could tie themselves to a person or a place that will pull at their very being. Or they could wander in the human world for whatever reason as the realization of their death—as well as bitterness and jealousy towards living beings—eat away at their soul chain. There are many ways."_

_She couldn't help the sob that broke away from her. "This happened because he's attached to me, isn't it. Couldn't you send him on before this happened?"_

_The girl sighed. "I wish I could send every soul on before they became a hollow, but it's impossible to find every single one when few have enough spiritual pressure to show up on my instruments."_

_Orihime wiped at her eyes. "He's coming back, isn't he. He's coming back to kill me."_

_Again, the shinigami paused. "Yes."_

_The light-haired girl looked up at the other girl desperately. "Isn't there anything I can do to help him?!"_

_The shinigami regarded her. "You need to leave before he comes back." _

_Orihime shook her head. "I can't even stand up."_

"_Give me a minute, we probably have that long. I'll come over there and heal you."_

"_Heal me? But I'm not injured!" Orihime protested. "_You_ are! Are you alright? I just can't breathe or walk for some reason." _

"_That's because your soul was ejected from your body."_

_The sick feeling came back rather quickly. "So I...I'm dead?"_

_The shinigami used a combination of her sword and the lamppost to rise to her knees. "No. Your chain of fate has not been severed."_

_Orihime looked down at the chain connected to her chest. "This?" So that's why the girl had told her to stop. If she'd pulled it out, not only would she have died, but she would have become a monster like Sora._

_She glanced back at the other girl and noted her struggle before holding out her hand in protest. _

"_No! Don't get up! You're bleeding!"_

"_I have to heal your connection with your body or you will die!" the shinigami snapped. _

"_Then let me bring my body to you!" Orihime pleaded and went to stand up. She didn't get far. It was all she could do to put her foot on the ground under her, and she was gasping by the time she managed to get that far. _

"_Don't be ridiculous," the shinigami muttered, although she didn't seem to be fairing much better in her attempts to gain her feet. "You said so yourself, you can't even stand."_

"_NO!" the light-haired girl yelled when the other girl tried again to lever herself into a standing position with her sword. The shinigami froze. "Please...let me do this. I can." She looked up at the shinigami. "I will."_

_Something passed across the girl's face as she stared at Orhihime. Then she seemed to deflate. "Hurry."_

_Orhihime nodded. "How long until he comes back?"_

_The black-haired girl shook her head. "We have no way of knowing. It could be minutes, it could be hours. Probably whenever he regenerates his mask."_

"_His...mask? What...is it?" Orihime gasped as she struggled to get into a standing position._

"_Don't talk," the girl said. "Save your strength."_

"_I can do this," Orihime insisted. "It's...not a problem." With one mighty heave and a great deal of will power, she managed to lock her knees underneath her. The world swam around her uncertainly, tipping and spinning for a second. Then she forced it aside and took a step towards her body. Almost immediately, she crumpled to the ground. _

"_Are you alright?" the shinigami called._

_Orihime pushed herself to her hands and knees, then turned and smiled brightly at the shinigami. "Yes, I'm fine! I take falls like that all the time!"_

_The shinigami didn't look convinced. "Your nose is bleeding..."_

_Orihime blinked and brought a hand to her nose. "Oh, this is nothing."_

_The dark-haired girl still didn't look convinced, but she let it go. It took Orihime far less time to gain her feet this time, and she managed to make it over to her body before falling over next to it. Just as she reached for her own shoulders (and that topped any of her strange fantasies any day), a thought suddenly occurred to her. _

"_Shinigami-san! Can I touch my body?" She didn't want to try and not be able to. At this point, she didn't know what she would do if she couldn't._

_The girl blinked. "Yes. You should be able to because you're still attached to it. You probably won't be able to touch much else. Perhaps things with large mass like the walkway and road. If a structure has been standing long enough, spiritual particles from spiritual beings that have passed through over the years will settle on them and eventually be absorbed by them, making it easier for spirits to walk and touch walls and other such items. The smaller the item is, the fewer spiritual particles it has and the harder it is to touch."_

_The shinigami seemed to be talking to distract Orihime from the situation and give her something to focus on. She couldn't help but feel grateful to the other girl as said distraction somehow allowed her to grab her own shoulders and drag her extremely heavy body towards the road. No sooner had she begun to pull than she fell rather hard on her rump. _

_It seemed that moving was getting a bit easier for her the more she did it, though, as she was able to get to her feet much more quickly this time, and it seemed to get easier to breathe. She wasn't sure if that was good or not._

_Shoving thoughts like that aside, she reached down and tried to drag her body again. She wasn't sure if she should be glad or upset that the street was more or less deserted. It was still early, after all She'd gone to the store directly after coming home from school. Many people would be getting off of work soon and the sidewalks and streets would probably fill up. She had to get her body over to the shinigami girl before then._

_It still took her every ounce of willpower and strength that she had in her being to just drag the dead weight (she definitely had to go on a diet after this) just a couple feet, but she refused to give up. A few people had passed on the street during all of this and one or two had even stopped, but once they saw her limp form move seemingly on its own, they tended to be very happy to leave as quickly as they could. _

_Pausing for a moment, she turned and looked over at the shinigami, who held a glowing hand over her stomach. What was she doing? Orihime wanted to ask, but didn't know if that was a good idea. _

_Of course that's when her brother decided to show up again. _

"_I'll kill you all!" he screamed. _

_The shinigami looked up at the hollow, fear and anger battling with helplessness in her eyes as he dove for Orihime. The light-haired girl had glanced up at the hollow, and then over at the Shinigami, and then back at her own body. She had a choice: head for the Shinigami and try to get them both to safety (and probably allow Sora to crush her/kill her body), or try and move her body out of the way. It only took her a moment to decide. _

_Dropping her shoulders, she turned and dashed down the street just before Sora reached her. Diving out of the way (and surreally through a parked car), she managed to get up and run over to the Shinigami, all the while hoping that her chain of fate wouldn't hold her back. Thankfully it didn't. It actually seemed to grow the further she got from herself. Of course, the more distance she put between her soul and her body, the harder it got to move. _

_She was gasping and had practically collapsed at the feet of the Shinigami by the time she'd gotten to the Shinigami. _

"_We...have to...run...Shinigami-san..." she managed to get out. _

"_Neither you nor I can run in this condition," the girl said dryly. "And at this rate, he'll get both of us because you're over here now."_

_Oh. She hadn't thought of that. _

"_Alright," she said, "I'll—"_

_A sharp tug and something snapping rang through her soul and she found she didn't even have the presence of mind to scream. Falling back against the pavement again, she managed to glance back and see what had snapped. Her chain of fate. No wonder it suddenly felt so difficult to move again._

_Sora sniggered cruelly at her, making her heart break even further. This wasn't her brother—the man who had given up everything to raise her. _

"_I will enjoy my meal," he said triumphantly. _

"_No," Orihime gasped, shoving the fear from her mind and forcing herself to her feet. She had to get away from the Shinigami so at least one of them could live. Yet again, her knees wouldn't support her and she collapsed to the sidewalk again._

"_If I told you you could save your brother and us, would you?" the Shinigami whispered suddenly. _

_Orihime blinked as she tried to sit up again, with only marginal success. "Yes," she said with a nod once the question had registered in her mind. _

"_Even if it meant killing him?"_

_The light-haired girl blinked. The very idea sent her already churning stomach over the edge. "But it would save him?" she asked skeptically. _

"_Yes."_

_Sora had grabbed Orihime's body and was cradling it in some sort of demented show of affection. "Now we can be together forever, my sweet little sister," he said slowly before turning his gaze over towards the two girls._

"_Yes," Orihime said as she got up again and locked her knees out of sheer determination. "I would."_

"_Then take my sword and stick it into your heart," the Shinigami said, holding her weapon out to Orihime. _

"_What?!" Orihime asked, utterly confused. What the shinigami said made absolutely no sense at all whatsoever._

"_I'm going to try and transfer my powers over to you. I have no idea if it will work, but it's better than waiting for him to eat us." The shinigami explained quickly. _

"_And...it won't hurt him?" the light-haired girl asked slowly. _

_The Shinigami blinked for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't know. But it is the only way he'll find peace."_

"_RAAAAAHHHH!" Sora shrieked and came barreling at them, still holding his little sister's body._

_Orihime knew she didn't have the time to waste on the decision, but she couldn't help but pause and look at her brother with a sad longing that quickly turned to resignation and determination. She couldn't save him before, but she could help him now._

"_Alright, Shinigami-san," she said and turned to the dark-haired girl. _

"_My name isn't 'Shinigami-san', it's Kuchiki Rukia."_

_Never one to falter on niceties, Orihime smiled down at the dark-haired woman. "Inoue Orihime."_

_Then she grabbed the sword and with only the slightest hesitation, plunged it through her chest. _

_And not only could she breathe again, but she suddenly felt as light as a feather. The next thing she knew, she'd jumped _over _Sora, landing behind him and striking. She didn't really know what she was doing but the sword in her hands swung in graceful arcs that surprised her. Truthfully, it felt more like someone else had taken over her hands and feet, gently guiding them along. Then she'd lunged forward at what whoever or whatever was guiding her recognized as an opening._

_Her sword struck his mask and for an instant, nothing happened. A surge of dread rushed through Orihime. Even she could tell she'd left herself open if that strike didn't work. Was she not strong enough? _

_And then, the mask shattered, throwing Orihime back just a bit as she landed gracefully. She immediately crouched into a defensive stance Tatsuki had taught her, but she needn't have worried. Sora looked down at her with a pained expression._

"_O-orihime?" he said. The light-haired girl almost collapsed out of relief. That wasn't the strange, multiple voice of the monster trying to kill her. It was her brother._

"_Sora-nii-san!" she said, ignoring that it came out as more of a sob._

"_W-what happened?" he asked, glancing around in confusion. "I was...but I...did I...?" _

_Hearing him that disoriented and horrified stabbed at her heart yet again. But, at long last, she could speak to her brother...her real brother, not the monster he'd become._

"_Oh, Orihime, I'm so sorry," he whispered._

"_I-it's not your fault, Nii-san."_

"_But-"_

"_You've always been there, haven't you?" Somehow she found speaking through her tears more difficult than when she'd tried to stand earlier. "Even after I didn't speak to you...the day you died..."_

"_Of course I would," he said, his voice gentle. "You're my precious little sister."_

"_But it's my fault!" she blurted._

_He blinked. "What?"_

"_I didn't tell you to be safe that day! It was such a stupid reason to not talk to you, and then—"_

"_No," Sora interrupted. She felt a large hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, and I always knew. Sometimes, things just-"_

_He suddenly cut off and Orihime snapped her head up to him, trying to see what had happened to him through her tears and not succeeding. _

"_Nii-san?!" she asked, not caring how hysterical her voice sounded. "Nii-san, what—"_

"_Kill me," Sora ground out, bending over himself as if he were in pain. "I won't be able to fight it...much longer...I..." he paused and glanced up at his sister. "Please,osaka-chan. My precious little sister..."_

"_But-"_

"_If you don't, I'll try...to hurt you again," he grunted in concentration. "Please!"_

_The tears came even faster. She did _not_ want to do this, but she knew she had to. He didn't want to be a monster either, apparently. Somehow, that made what she was about to do easier and harder simultaneously. _

_With great effort, he reached out and put a hand on hers, drawing her sword to him. She didn't bother hiding her loud gasps and cries. _

"_It's the right choice," she heard Rukia-san say._

_Her hand didn't want to move. Even though she knew it was for the best, she couldn't do it. _

"_I...I can't," she whispered. _

"_We can, together," he said back, his own voice just as soft. And with that, he plunged the sword forward and into his chest just above that awful hole. Her last memory of him had been his peaceful smile as he'd faded away and then blackness..._

Orihime stood in her apartment, staring at her brother's picture through tear-blurred eyes.

"Nii-san," she whispered. Her knees felt weak, but by some miracle they didn't collapse. Streaks of wet fell down her cheeks , and she did nothing to stop them. She didn't know how long she stood there, just crying and mourning for her brother, the wound he'd left in her soul when he'd died three years before torn wide open again.

A knock on the door drew her out of her painful reverie. She blinked and glanced over at the painted wood without really comprehending. A second knock a little louder just a few moments later had her stumbling forward and wiping her eyes.

Had all of that happened? Or had it just been some awful dream?

She didn't even realize she was still in her dressing gown and nightclothes (and when had she changed into those?) until she'd opened the door and realized who was standing there.

"K-Kurosaki-kun!" she squeaked, completely horrified.

He seemed to notice what she had at the same time as his cheeks flushed a bright red and he turned away.

"Inoue-san," he muttered in greeting.

Of course, that's when Orihime noticed the other girl standing there in an old-fashioned, black outfit. Orihime's heart fell. Not a dream then.

xXx

Orihime was completely determined to maintain her happy face, despite the complete and sudden turn about her life had taken. Unfortunately, the incident that happened the previous day kept drawing her attention, stopping her mind from wandering as it usually did.

"So, how do you know Kuchiki-san, Kuroskaki-kun?" she asked cheerfully.

Well, she hoped it sounded cheerful. Judging from the frown the orange-haired teen shot her, she wasn't sure if she'd been successful.

"A hollow attacked his family as well," Kuchiki-san explained matter-of-factly. "And apparently he can see ghosts."

Orihime's eyes lit up as she turned to Ichigo. "Really?" she asked. "Tatsuki-chan never mentioned that!"

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head, looking both nervous and embarrassed. Orihime found it incredibly adorable. "Uh, yeah," he muttered. "I asked her not to tell anyone."

Oh. Well, with that tone, Orihime knew when to change the topic. "How are you feeling, Kuchiki-san?"

The dark-haired girl frowned herself. "I am fine," she responded.

Ichigo cleared his throat. Kuchiki-san shot him a glare. "Very well. It seems I must rest for another few days before my wounds heal completely."

Orihime's eyes widened. "You heal that quickly? That's amazing, Kuchiki-san!"

"Spiritual bodies are more resilient than physical bodies."

Ichigo muttered something under his breath, but neither of the two girls seemed to be able to make it out. Just as Orihime opened her mouth to ask what he'd said, the shinigami spoke.

"Actually," she said with just a touch of mischief in her eyes, "I have a favor to ask of you, Inoue-san."

Orihime blinked, but she noticed Ichigo whip his head around to Rukia very quickly out of the corner of her eye.

"No! Don't you even dare!" he snapped.

"Someone has to take care of the hollows," Kuchiki-san responded, her voice calm but with an edge to it.

"Don't drag Orihime into this!" If she hadn't been so confused, the light-haired girl might have melted at his concern.

"She's the one with half my powers and a remarkably unscathed body."

Deciding she didn't like their bickering, Orihime decided to step in. "Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask you that, Kuchiki-san. Didn't I die yesterday? I mean, my chain of fate snapped, right?"

Both Ichigo and Kuchiki-san turned and stared at her. She blinked innocently back, mission accomplished.

"How can you speak of it so casually?" Kuchiki-san asked, slightly aghast.

Then Ichigo sighed and his scowl seemed much more relaxed suddenly. "Same old Inoue," he said quietly. Orihime stopped and stared over at him, fighting the blush that wanted to rise to her cheeks. Had he just_..._like they knew each other well or something? Or had it been her imagination? Or was she reading too much into it? She could just imagine how his eyes would sparkle if he would come over and ask her on a date. Then they could go drag racing! She didn't know where they would get the cars, but she'd worry about the details when they came to it.

"To answer your question," Kuchiki-san said, drawing Orihime out of her temporary daydream, "yes. You did die yesterday."

That had _not _been the answer she'd expected.

"What?" she asked, trying not to sound too shocked. She noticed that Ichigo looked rather worried himself.

"But by becoming a Shinigami, you gain the ability to use your body as a gegai. As it is your body, your spirit is still attached to it to a point where you were more or less revived." Orihime let out a breath she hadn't realize she'd been holding. "But you will have to be wary in the future. If you receive any injuries on your spiritual body, it will transfer over, to a lesser extent, to your human body."

"Oh. I-I see."

"But she's not going to be fighting any time soon, so she doesn't have to worry about that," Ichigo said suddenly, his scowl firmly back in place. If she hadn't known any better, Orihime would say he looked troubled.

Kuchiki-san scowled up at Ichigo. "I have assignments. If you will not allow me to fight, than someone has to."

The orange-haired boy glanced uneasily between the two girls for a few moments. His actions worried Orihime. They seemed so out of character for him, far from his normal quiet, almost aloof attentiveness. Normally he was a conundrum that fascinated her, but now...it was such a sudden change.

"I-it's alright," she said quickly, trying to alleviate the suddenly tense atmosphere. "I can fight. I mean, Kuchiki-san is hurt and can't strain her body, right?"

Ichigo watched her for a moment with an unreadable expression. "Rukia," he said, turning to the dark-haired girl. Orihime deflated ever so slightly. He'd only known her for a few days and they were already on a first-name basis? Without any titles too. "You know spells, right? Kido?"

Kuchiki-san blinked. "Yes," she replied slowly.

Ichigo nodded, his eyes boring into the other girl's. Orihime didn't think she was jealous, but she did feel she had missed something. And seeing him act like that towards another girl did make her feel sad.

Then he spoke softly, his voice serious and almost pleading. "Then teach me."

xXx

Author's Notes: There you have it. Ichigo is now going to begin his training in kido...and it will not be pretty. Why am I so mean to him? *throws hands in the air*

Sorry it's taken so long to get this up, but life caught up with me and my muses have been going over time on my new fandom (Rise of the Guardians, if you haven't seen it, do! It's amazing!). But I will not abandon this! So don't worry about it. :) Thanks to my beta readers of awesomeness!

Anyway, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!


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